U.S. patent number 10,405,041 [Application Number 15/362,331] was granted by the patent office on 2019-09-03 for systems and methods for predictive spoiler prevention in media assets based on user behavior.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Rovi Guides, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Rovi Guides, Inc.. Invention is credited to Ashleigh A. Miller.
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United States Patent |
10,405,041 |
Miller |
September 3, 2019 |
Systems and methods for predictive spoiler prevention in media
assets based on user behavior
Abstract
Systems and methods for preventing spoilers from being presented
to a user based on user activity are described herein. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may predict events that
a user may not wish to be spoiled based on user activity, and
prevent spoilers for the predicted events from being presented. For
example, by using received data identifying purchase activities
associated with the user, a media guidance application may identify
events associated with the purchase activity. The media guidance
application may identify content associated with these events, and
prevent the identified content from being presented to the user in
response to determining that the identified content includes
spoilers for the events.
Inventors: |
Miller; Ashleigh A. (Denver,
CO) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Rovi Guides, Inc. |
San Carlos |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Rovi Guides, Inc. (San Jose,
CA)
|
Family
ID: |
62191144 |
Appl.
No.: |
15/362,331 |
Filed: |
November 28, 2016 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20180152759 A1 |
May 31, 2018 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
21/475 (20130101); G06F 16/2455 (20190101); H04N
21/812 (20130101); G06Q 10/1095 (20130101); H04N
21/4532 (20130101); H04N 21/4667 (20130101); H04N
21/454 (20130101); G06F 16/22 (20190101); H04N
21/44222 (20130101); H04N 21/4882 (20130101); G06Q
50/01 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04N
7/16 (20110101); G06F 16/22 (20190101); G06F
16/2455 (20190101); H04N 21/442 (20110101); G06Q
10/10 (20120101); H04N 21/466 (20110101); H04N
21/81 (20110101); H04N 21/488 (20110101); H04N
21/475 (20110101); H04N 21/454 (20110101); H04N
21/45 (20110101); G06Q 50/00 (20120101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Kumar; Pankaj
Assistant Examiner: Newlin; Timothy R
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Haley Guiliano LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for preventing a spoiler from being presented to a user
based on past purchases, the method comprising: receiving data
representing purchase activity associated with the user, wherein
the data includes a source of the purchase and purchase
information; retrieving the purchase information from the data;
searching, using the purchase information, an events database to
identify an event entry having a first event information field that
matches the purchase information; determining whether the events
database includes the event entry having the first event
information field that matches the purchase information; in
response to determining that none of the event entries in the
events database includes an event entry having an event information
field that matches the purchase information, requesting the event
information from the source of the purchase in the data; receiving
the event information requested from the source of the purchase in
the data; submitting, to the events database, a request to create a
new event entry having a third event information field that matches
the purchase information included in the received data, and a
fourth event information field that matches the event information
received; selecting, based on the event information, an event
associated with the purchase activity; identifying content
associated with the selected event; processing metadata associated
with the identified content to determine whether the metadata
indicates that the identified content includes a spoiler for the
selected event; and preventing the identified content from being
presented to the user in response to determining that the metadata
indicates that the identified content includes the spoiler.
2. A method for preventing a spoiler from being presented to a user
based on past purchases, the method comprising: receiving data
representing purchase activity associated with the user, wherein
the data includes a source of the purchase and purchase
information; retrieving the purchase information from the data;
searching, using the purchase information, an events database to
identify an event entry having a first event information field that
matches the purchase information; determining whether the events
database includes the event entry having the first event
information field that matches the purchase information; in
response to determining that none of the event entries in the
events database includes an event entry having an event information
field that matches the purchase information, requesting the event
information from the source of the purchase in the data, wherein
requesting, from the source of the purchase, event information
associated with the purchase information comprises: identifying the
source that received the purchase from the user based on the
received data; searching for an account associated with the user
for accessing the identified source; and transmitting a request to
the source, based on the determined account, for the event
information associated the purchase; selecting, based on the event
information, an event associated with the purchase activity;
identifying content associated with the selected event; processing
metadata associated with the identified content to determine
whether the metadata indicates that the identified content includes
a spoiler for the selected event; and preventing the identified
content from being presented to the user in response to determining
that the metadata indicates that the identified content includes
the spoiler.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitted request comprises
user credentials, the user credentials being usable by the source
to verify that the request was approved by the user.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the selected event includes at
least one of a movie presented in a movie theater, a concert, a
live event, a media asset scheduled for transmission, and a
calendar appointment; and the content includes at least one of a
media asset, a social media communication, an advertisement, a text
or SMS message, and a commercial.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the content
comprises: monitoring other content being accessed by the user; and
searching for a plurality of content likely to be accessed by the
user within a threshold period of time in the future.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising: storing, in a purchase
activities database, purchase activities associated with the user,
wherein the purchase activities database includes a plurality of
purchase activity entries, each purchase activity entry includes a
purchase source field and an event information field; and adding to
the purchase activities database a new purchase activity entry for
the received purchase activity associated with the user based on
the event information associated with the purchase information.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an event associated
with the purchase activity comprises; identifying, using the events
database, an event associated with the event information;
determining, using the events database, a plurality of related
events associated with the identified event; and selecting, as the
event associated with the purchase activity, one of the plurality
of related events.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein preventing the identified content
from being presented comprises: receiving, from the user, a request
to access the identified content; and presenting, to the user, in
response to receiving the request, alternate content different from
the identified content.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein preventing the identified content
from being presented comprises: determining an end time for the
event associated with the purchase activity; and preventing the
identified content from being presented in response to determining
that the current time is earlier than the end time.
10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: in
response to determining that the events database includes the event
entry having the first event information field that matches the
purchase information, retrieving event information from a second
event information field associated with the event entry.
11. A system for preventing a spoiler from being presented to a
user based on past purchases, the system comprising: storage
circuitry; and control circuitry configured to: receive data
representing purchase activity associated with the user, wherein
the data includes a source of the purchase and purchase
information; retrieve the purchase information from the data;
search, using the purchase information, an events database to
identify an event entry having a first event information field that
matches the purchase information; determine whether the events
database includes the event entry having the first event
information field that matches the purchase information; in
response to determining that none of the event entries in the
events database includes an event entry having an event information
field that matches the purchase information, request the event
information from the source of the purchase in the data; receive
the event information requested from the source of the purchase in
the data; submit, to the events database, a request to create a new
event entry having a third event information field that matches the
purchase information included in the received data, and a fourth
event information field that matches the event information
received; select, based on the event information, an event
associated with the purchase activity; identify content associated
with the selected event; process metadata associated with the
identified content to determine whether the metadata indicates that
the identified content includes a spoiler for the selected event;
and prevent the identified content from being presented to the user
in response to determining that the metadata indicates that the
identified content includes the spoiler.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein: the selected event includes at
least one of a movie presented in a movie theater, a concert, a
live event, a media asset scheduled for transmission, and a
calendar appointment; and the content includes at least one of a
media asset, a social media communication, an advertisement, a text
or SMS message, and a commercial.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry
configured to identify the content is further configured to:
monitor other content being accessed by the user; and search for a
plurality of content likely to be accessed by the user within a
threshold period of time in the future.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured to: store, in a purchase activities database,
purchase activities associated with the user, wherein the purchase
activities database includes a plurality of purchase activity
entries, each purchase activity entry includes a purchase source
field and an event information field; and add to the purchase
activities database a new purchase activity entry for the received
purchase activity associated with the user based on the event
information associated with the purchase information.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry
configured to select an event associated with the purchase activity
is further configured to; identify, using the events database, an
event associated with the event information; determine, using the
events database, a plurality of related events associated with the
identified event; and select, as the event associated with the
purchase activity, one of the plurality of related events.
16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry
configured to prevent the identified content from being presented
is further configured to: receive, from the user, a request to
access the identified content; and present, to the user, in
response to receiving the request, alternate content different from
the identified content.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry
configured to prevent the identified content from being presented
is further configured to: determine an end time for the event
associated with the purchase activity; and prevent the identified
content from being presented in response to determining that the
current time is earlier than the end time.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry
configured to prevent the identified content from being presented
is further configured to: in response to determining that the
events database includes the event entry having the first event
information field that matches the purchase information, retrieve
event information from a second event information field associated
with the event entry.
19. A system for preventing a spoiler from being presented to a
user based on past purchases, the system comprising: storage
circuitry; and control circuitry configured to: receive data
representing purchase activity associated with the user, wherein
the data includes a source of the purchase and purchase
information; retrieve the purchase information from the data;
search, using the purchase information, an events database to
identify an event entry having a first event information field that
matches the purchase information; determine whether the events
database includes the event entry having the first event
information field that matches the purchase information; in
response to determining that none of the event entries in the
events database includes an event entry having an event information
field that matches the purchase information, request the event
information from the source of the purchase in the data, wherein
the control circuitry configured to request, from the source of the
purchase, event information associated with the purchase
information is further configured to: identify the source that
received the purchase from the user based on the received data;
search for an account associated with the user for accessing the
identified source; and transmit a request to the source, based on
the determined account, for the event information associated the
purchase; select, based on the event information, an event
associated with the purchase activity; identify content associated
with the selected event; process metadata associated with the
identified content to determine whether the metadata indicates that
the identified content includes a spoiler for the selected event;
and prevent the identified content from being presented to the user
in response to determining that the metadata indicates that the
identified content includes the spoiler.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the transmitted request
comprises user credentials, the user credentials being usable by
the source to verify that the request was approved by the user.
Description
BACKGROUND
Given the wide variety and number of content sources through which
media can be delivered to consumers, it is increasingly difficult
for users to avoid "spoilers," information about future content
that may ruin surprises or key plot points. This problem is
exacerbated by the proliferation of the Internet and social media,
which may result in users being constantly inundated with
information about future movies, games, media, events, or other
types of content. Although some content makers attempt to address
this problem by voluntarily warning users about potential spoilers
(e.g., through the use of brief "spoiler warnings" presented at the
beginning of the content), many content makers neglect to warn
users about potential spoilers, and users are often distracted and
fail to notice these warnings even when they are present. Some
conventional systems also attempt to address this problem by
preventing spoilers from being presented for programs that a user
has recorded with a home digital video recorder. However, in
addition to being limited to programs that the user has explicitly
chosen to recorded, this type of system still places an undue
burden on users to explicitly consider and identify all of the
future content that they are planning to consume that should not be
spoiled.
SUMMARY
Accordingly, systems and methods are presented for predicting
content that a user does not want to be spoiled based on user
behavior, and preventing spoilers for the predicted content from
being presented to the user. The systems and methods may be used to
prevent spoilers from being presented to the user without the user
needing to explicitly identify future content that should not be
spoiled. For example, by receiving contents of a user profile, a
user activity log, a purchase history, a list of scheduled
recordings on the user's home DVR, or other data indicative of user
activities, a media guidance application may use that data to
predict future content that the user may not wish to be spoiled.
This may be done, for example, by using a database to identify
content associated with the particular user activity, and using
that information to predict other related content that is likely to
be of interest to the user. The media guidance application may then
identify content that includes spoilers for the predicted future
content, and prevent content containing spoilers from being
presented to the user.
In some aspects, the media guidance application stores a database
of event entries, wherein each of the event entries includes an
event information field that includes a feature that appears in the
respective event. For example, the media guidance application may
store and maintain a database of events, such as movies presented
in a movie theater, concerts, live events, media assets scheduled
for transmission, or calendar appointments. For each of the events
in the database, the media guidance application may store a list of
features for the event, such as a person, character, or band
associated with the event, a general category or genre of the
event, a location and time of the event, a scene within the event,
or any other suitable feature.
The media guidance application then receives data identifying an
activity performed by the user. For example, the media guidance
application may receive data identifying a social media
communication made by the user, user attendance of a live event,
user interactions with computer applications, user interactions
with websites accessible via the Internet, or user interactions
with a set-top box. The received data may also indicate that the
user accessed a media asset, purchased a media asset, ordered a
media asset, purchased a ticket for attending an event, added an
appointment to a calendar, or the like.
The media guidance application then determines, based on the
received data, a first event associated with the identified
activity performed by the user. For example, if the user purchases
tickets to a movie screening, the media guidance application may
receive data from the ticket vendor indicating the time, location,
and identity of the movie, or other information that can be used to
determine the particular movie screening associated with the user's
purchase. In general, the media guidance application may detect an
event identification code contained in the received data, and use
this code to determine events associated with the activity
performed by the user. The media guidance application may also
access a database containing a listing of events associated with
particular types of user activities, such as a purchases database
that can be used to look up events associated with each of a user's
purchases.
The media guidance application then searches the database of event
entries to identify an event entry that is associated with the
determined first event. For example, if the media guidance
application determines that a ticket purchased by the user is
associated with a live performance of the musical "The Producers,"
the media guidance application may search the database of event
entries to find entries associated with the live performance of
"The Producers."
The media guidance application the retrieves, from the event
information field associated with identified event entry, the
feature that appears in the determined first event. For example,
the media guidance application may access one of the event
information fields associated with the event entry representing the
live performance of "The Producers," and retrieve the name of the
original writer, "Mel Brooks." In general, the event entry in the
database for the live performance of "The Producers" may include
event information fields for various features associated with "The
Producers," such as the genre of the live performance, the actors
in the performance, the characters portrayed within the
performance, the original writer and director, and the like.
The media guidance application then searches the event information
fields stored in the database to identify a plurality of event
entries that each includes an event information field having a
given feature that corresponds to the retrieved feature. For
example, if the feature retrieved by the media guidance application
was the name "Mel Brooks," the media guidance application will
search the database and identify other event entries that have
information fields containing the name "Mel Brooks."
The media guidance application then selects a first of the
plurality of event entries that is associated with a second event
that matches a user profile. For example, if the user profile
indicates that the user enjoys film festivals, the media guidance
application may take the previously identified entries that include
the name "Mel Brooks" in one of the information fields and select
an event entry for a comedy film festival hosted by Mel Brooks that
includes the debut of the new film "Get Smart 2" as the second
event entry that matches the user profile.
In some embodiments, selecting the first entry includes the media
guidance application determining a preferred feature based on the
user profile. For example, the media guidance application may
determine that the user enjoys film festivals based on the
information contained within the user profile, and determine that
the user may enjoy events that are associated with the preferred
feature "Film Festival." The media guidance application may then
identify, from the plurality of event entries, a subset of event
entries including a first event information field having the given
feature and a second event information field having the preferred
feature. For example, from the list of event entries that include
information fields containing the name "Mel Brooks," the media
guidance application may identify a subset of event entries that
also include information fields including the feature "Film
Festival." The media guidance application may then select one of
the subset of entries as the first event entry.
In some embodiments, determining a preferred feature based on the
user profile includes the media guidance application determining,
from the user profile, a plurality of past activities performed by
the user. For example, the media guidance application may access a
purchase history from the user profile, and use it to determine the
recent purchases made by the user. The media guidance application
may then determine a plurality of previous events associated with
the plurality of past activities performed by the user, each of the
plurality of previous events being associated with at least one of
the plurality of past activities. For example, if the activities
are previous user purchases, the media guidance application may
determine each of the events associated with the previous user
purchases, and compile them into a single list of events. The media
guidance application may then search the database of event entries
to identify a plurality of event entries associated with the
determined plurality of previous events, and determine a preferred
feature that appears in event entries associated with each of the
plurality of previous events. For example, the media guidance
application may search for each of the events associated with the
previous purchases in a database, and determine that several of the
events include the feature "Film Festival." In this case, the media
guidance application may determine that the user is likely to enjoy
other events that include the feature "Film Festival," and
designate the feature "Film Festival" as a preferred feature.
The media guidance application then identifies content associated
with the second event. The content may be a media asset, a social
media communication, an advertisement, a text or SMS message, a
commercial, another event, or any other type of content. For
example, if the second event is a comedy film festival that
includes the debut of the new film "Get Smart 2," the identified
content may be a social media post referencing the film festival,
or an episode of a talk show where the stars of the new film "Get
Smart 2" are invited as guests. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application identifies the content by monitoring other
content being accessed by the user, and searching for a plurality
of content likely to be accessed by the user within a threshold
period of time in the future. For example, if the media guidance
application determines that the user is changing channels and
viewing various late-night talk shows in quick succession, the
media guidance application may search for other talk shows being
presented within the next hour that are associated with the comedy
film festival. As another example, if the media guidance
application determines that a user is currently watching the end of
an on-demand video or a recording from a DVR, and that the user
will return to watching live television programming within the next
ten minutes, the media guidance application may search for live
television programming being broadcast in the next ten minutes that
is associated with the comedy film festival.
The media guidance application then processes metadata associated
with the identified content to determine whether the metadata
indicates that the identified content includes a spoiler for the
second event. For example, once the media guidance application
determines that a particular episode of the talk show is associated
with the film festival, the media guidance application may use
metadata associated with that episode of the talk show in order to
determine if that episode contain spoilers for the film festival.
In some embodiments, processing the metadata includes the media
guidance application determining, based on the metadata, whether
the identified content is associated with a user-generated flag
indicating that the identified content contains a spoiler for the
second event. For example, other users may mark certain types of
content as containing spoilers for particular events, resulting in
a "spoiler warning" flag being stored within the metadata that may
be detected by the media guidance application.
The media guidance application then prevents the identified content
from being presented to the user in response to determining that
the metadata indicates that the identified content includes the
spoiler. For example, if the media guidance application determines
that a particular episode of a talk show contains spoilers for the
upcoming film festival, the media guidance application may prevent
that episode of the talk show from being presented to the user. In
some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine
whether the user has previously accessed the identified content,
and allow the identified content to be presented to the user in
response to determining that the metadata indicates that the
identified content includes a spoiler. This may be done instead of
instead of preventing the identified content from being presented
to the user. For example, if the media guidance application
determines that the episode of the talk show has already been
presented to the user in the past, the media guidance application
may simply present the episode to the user rather than preventing
it from being presented, despite the fact that it may contain a
spoiler.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application receiving, from
the user, a request to access the identified content. For example,
if the identified content is an episode of a particular talk show,
the media guidance application may receive a request to tune to a
broadcast of the talk show. The media guidance application may then
present, to the user, in response to receiving the request,
alternate content different from the identified content. For
example, the media guidance application may tune to a broadcast of
a different talk show instead.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application determining that
the identified content is about to be presented to the user without
the user's input. For example, if the user is about to finish
watching a DVR recording, the media guidance application may
normally be configured to automatically return the user to whatever
live channel he or she was watching before he or she accessed the
DVR recording. In this case, the media guidance application may
determine if the live channel the user was previously watching is
displaying the identified content. If the media guidance
application determines that the live channel is indeed displaying
the identified content, the media guidance application may prevent
the identified content from being presented to the user by
returning the user to an alternative live channel instead.
In some embodiments, the alternate content may include a selectable
option, the selectable option comprising at least one of an option
to have the identified content presented, an option to delay
presentation of the identified content to a later time, and an
option to not view the identified content. For example, instead of
simply presenting the talk show to the user, the media guidance
application may display a prompt, warning the user that the content
that he or she requested may contain spoilers, and asking the user
how he or she wishes to proceed.
In some embodiments, presenting the alternate content may include
the media guidance application identifying a possible content
alternative, the possible content alternative being a type of
content that is the same as the identified content. For example, if
the identified content was an episode of a particular talk show,
the media guidance application may identify episodes of other talk
shows as potential content alternatives. The media guidance
application may then process metadata associated with the possible
content alternative to determine whether metadata associated with
the possible content alternative indicates that the possible
content alternative includes the spoiler for the second event. For
example, if the originally requested talk show isn't presented
because it contained spoilers for an upcoming film festival, the
media guidance application may verify that the alternate content
does not contain spoilers for the upcoming film festival. The media
guidance application then presents the possible content alternative
to the user as the alternate content in response to determining
that the metadata associated with the possible content alternative
indicates that the identified content does not include the
spoiler.
In some aspects, the media guidance application receives data
representing purchase activity associated with the user, wherein
the data includes a source of the purchase and purchase
information. For example, the media guidance application may
receive data representing a user's purchase of a concert ticket,
including data identifying the online retailer the ticket was
purchased from, and other information about the purchase.
The media guidance application then retrieves the purchase
information from the data and searches, using the purchase
information, an events database to identify an event entry having a
first event information field that matches the purchase
information. For example, the purchase information may include a
purchase code that the media guidance application may use to search
an events database and identify event entries for events associated
with the purchase.
The media guidance application then, in response to determining
that the events database includes the event entry having the first
event information field that matches the purchase information,
retrieves event information from a second event information field
associated with the event entry. For example, the event entry in
the database for an upcoming concert, "Dolly Parton Sings!," may
include information fields for the title of the concert, the
different bands featured in the concert, the start time and end
time of the concert, an event identifier that can be used to search
for additional information about the event in other databases, a
list of other related content and events, and the various types of
purchase information or purchase codes associated with the concert.
If the media guidance application determines that purchase
information matches one of the fields for the database entry
associated with a particular performance of the concert "Dolly
Parton Sings!," the media guidance application may retrieve event
information from one of the other fields of the entry associated
with that performance of the concert "Dolly Parton Sings!," such as
an event identifier or the time and title of the concert.
Alternatively, the media guidance application, in response to
determining that none of the event entries in the events database
includes an event entry having an event information field that
matches the purchase information, requests the event information
from the source of the purchase in the data. For example, if there
are no entries in the database that have information fields
matching the received purchase information, the media guidance
application may directly request event information from the
retailer that provided the purchase information. This information
may include an event identifier, the time and title of the event,
or any other type of suitable information about the event.
In some embodiments, requesting, from the source of the purchase,
event information associated with the purchase information includes
the media guidance application identifying the source that received
the purchase from the user based on the received data. For example,
if the received data includes data identifying the source of the
purchase, such as a particular online vender, the media guidance
application may simply use the received data in order to identify
the source. The media guidance application then searches for an
account associated with the user for accessing the identified
source. For example, if the identified source is a particular
online retailer, the media guidance application may search for the
user's account with that online retailer. In this situation, the
media guidance application may, for example, access previously
stored user credentials for the account, or prompt the user to
provide information about his or her account, such as his or her
username. The media guidance application then transmits a request
to the source, based on the determined account, for the event
information associated with the purchase. For example, the media
guidance application may use the application programming interface
(API) for the online retailer's website to submit a request for
additional information regarding the user's purchase, identifying
the user by including the username associated with the user in the
request. In some embodiments, the transmitted request may include
user credentials, the user credentials being usable by the source
to verify that the request was approved by the user. For example,
particular online retailers may prevent information about user
purchases from being shared unless the user provides a password. In
this situation, the media guidance application may prompt the user
for his or her password and include this information in the
request. As another example, the online retailer may require that
the request be made from an authenticated user device, and the
media guidance application may access the appropriate
authentication key and provide it along with the request.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application receives the
event information requested from the source of the purchase in the
data. For example, this information may include an event
identifier, the time and title of the event, or any other type of
suitable information about the event. The media guidance
application then submits, to the events database, a request to
create a new event entry having a third event information field
that matches the purchase information included in the received
data, and a fourth event information field that matches the event
information received. For example, the media guidance application
may submit a request to create a new entry for the event including
an event identifier, the time and title of the event, and the
originally received purchase information. This may allow the media
guidance application to easily look up the event associated with
that particular purchase information in the future.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application stores, in a
purchase activities database, purchase activities associated with
the user, wherein the purchase activities database includes a
plurality of purchase activity entries, and each purchase activity
entry includes a purchase source field and an event information
field. For example, the media guidance application may maintain an
independent database tracking the purchases of one or more users.
Such a database may include purchase activity entries that include
information fields for the purchase source for each purchase,
descriptions of the purchase, additional information about each
purchase, purchase codes associated with the purchase, and events
or other content associated with the purchase. The media guidance
application then adds to the purchase activities database a new
purchase activity entry for the received purchase activity
associated with the user based on the event information associated
with the purchase information. For example, if the media guidance
application needed to request event information from the source of
the purchase, this information can be stored as part of an entry in
the purchase activities database along with the originally received
purchase information. This may allow the media guidance application
to detect trends in user purchases or help predict future
purchases.
The media guidance application then selects, based on the event
information, an event associated with the purchase activity. The
selected event may be a movie presented in a movie theater, a
concert, a live event, a media asset scheduled for transmission, a
calendar appointment, or any other suitable type of event. For
example, if the event information is the title of an event, "Dolly
Parton Sings!," and the time of an upcoming event, the media
guidance application may use this information to search an events
database and identify the exact performance of the "Dolly Parton
Sings!" concert associated with the purchase activity.
In some embodiments, selecting an event associated with the
purchase activity includes a media guidance application
identifying, using the events database, an event associated with
the event information. For example, the event database may store
information about multiple events, and list features of the each
event such as a person, character, or band associated with the
event, a general category or genre for the event, a location and
time of the event, a title of the event, a scene within the event,
an event identifier associated with the event, other events or
other types of content associated with the event, or any other type
of suitable information. In this situation, the media guidance
application may use the event information to search for events
associated with the event information, and select one of the
identified events from the events database. The media guidance
application then determines, using the events database, a plurality
of related events associated with the identified event. For
example, if the identified event was a "Dolly Parton Sings!"
country and western concert, related events associated with the
"Dolly Parton Sings!" concert might include other "Dolly Parton"
concerts, or other types of country and western concerts. The media
guidance application then selects, as the event associated with the
purchase activity, one of the plurality of related events. For
example, if the media guidance application previously identified a
number of "Garth Brooks featuring Dolly Parton" concerts as being
associated with the "Dolly Parton Sings!" concert, one of the
"Garth Brooks featuring Dolly Parton" concerts may be selected as
the event associated with the purchase activity.
The media guidance application then identifies content associated
with the selected event. The content may include, for example, a
media asset, a social media communication, an advertisement, a text
or SMS message, a commercial, other events, or any other type of
suitable content that may be presented to the user. For example, if
the selected event is a Sunday night performance of the "Dolly
Parton Sings!" concert, the identified content may be a series of
social media messages about an earlier performance of the same
"Dolly Parton Sings!" concert.
In some embodiments, identifying the content includes the media
guidance application monitoring other content being accessed by the
user, and searching for a plurality of content likely to be
accessed by the user within a threshold period of time in the
future. For example, if the media guidance application determines
that the user is browsing through several friends' social media
postings, and is likely to continue doing so for the next hour, the
media guidance application may continue to search for social media
postings made by the user's friends related to the "Dolly Parton
Sings!" concert for at least the next hour.
The media guidance application then processes metadata associated
with the identified content to determine whether the metadata
indicates that the identified content includes a spoiler for the
selected event. For example, the media guidance application may use
the metadata associated with the social media postings to determine
if the social media postings contain spoilers for the Sunday night
performance of the "Dolly Parton Sings!" concert.
The media guidance application then prevents the identified content
from being presented to the user in response to determining that
the metadata indicates that the identified content includes the
spoiler. For example, if it determined that the social media
postings contain spoilers, such as revealing the set list for the
concert or revealing the identity of various surprise guests that
make an appearance in the concert, the media guidance application
may prevent the social media posts from being presented to the
user.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application receiving, from
the user, a request to access the identified content. For example,
if the identified content is a social media communication
originating from one of the user's friends, the media guidance
application may receive a request from the user to view the social
media communications made by the friend. The media guidance
application then presents, to the user, in response to receiving
the request, alternate content different from the identified
content. For example, the media guidance application may display a
prompt asking the user if he or she wishes to proceed, or the media
guidance application may display censored versions of the social
media communications with the spoilers removed or redacted.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application determining an
end time for the event associated with the purchase activity. For
example, if the Sunday night performance of the "Dolly Parton
Sings!" concert is the event associated with the user's purchase
activity, the media guidance application may use the events
database to look up an end time for the Sunday night performance of
the "Dolly Parton Sings!" concert. The media guidance application
then prevents the identified content from being presented in
response to determining that the current time is earlier than the
end time. For example, if the identified content is a series of
social media communications made by the user's friends, the media
guidance application may prevent those social media communications
from being displayed to the user until after the "Dolly Parton
Sings!" concert has ended.
It should be noted the systems and/or methods described above may
be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods
and/or apparatuses.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will
be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed
description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout,
and in which:
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of preventing content from
being presented to a user in response to determining that the
content may contain spoilers, in accordance with some embodiments
of the disclosure;
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of alternate content provided
to the user when preventing content from being presented, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 3 shows another illustrative example of alternate content
provided to the user when preventing content from being presented,
in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 4 shows an illustrative events database, which may be used in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
FIG. 5 shows an illustrative content database, which may be used in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
FIG. 6 shows an illustrative purchase activity database, which may
be used in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
FIG. 7 shows an illustrative example of a display screen for use in
accessing media content in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure;
FIG. 8 shows another illustrative example of a display screen used
to access media content in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure;
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device
in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for preventing a
spoiler from being presented to a user based on a purchase
activity, in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure;
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for preventing a
spoiler from being presented to a user based on an activity, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 13 is a flowchart of another set of illustrative steps for
preventing a spoiler from being presented to a user based on an
activity, in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure;
FIG. 14 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for preventing a
spoiler from being presented to a user based on a purchase
activity, in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure;
FIG. 15 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for selecting events
associated with a user profile, in accordance with some embodiments
of the disclosure;
FIG. 16 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for identifying
preferred event features using a user profile, in accordance with
some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 17 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for processing
metadata associated with content to determine if it includes a
spoiler for an event, in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure; and
FIG. 18 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining events
associated with an activity, in accordance with some embodiments of
the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Systems and methods are presented for predicting content that a
user does not want to be spoiled based on user behavior, and
preventing spoilers from being presented to the user. The systems
and methods may be used to prevent spoilers from being presented to
the user without the user needing to explicitly identify future
content that should not be spoiled. For example, by receiving
contents of a user profile, a user activity log, a purchase
history, a list of the scheduled recordings on the user's home DVR,
or other data indicative of user activities, a media guidance
application may use that data to determine future content that the
user may not wish to be spoiled. This may be done, for example, by
using a database to identify content associated with the particular
user activity, and using that information to identify other related
content or events that are likely to be of interest to the user.
The media guidance application may then identify content which
includes spoilers for the related content or events, and prevent
that content from being presented to the user.
The amount of content available to users in any given content
delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire
a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to
efficiently navigate content selections and easily identify content
that they may desire. An application that provides such guidance is
referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or,
sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance
application.
Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms
depending on the content for which they provide guidance. One
typical type of media guidance application is an interactive
television program guide. Interactive television program guides
(sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known
guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to
navigate among and locate many types of content or media assets.
Interactive media guidance applications may generate graphical user
interface screens that enable a user to navigate among, locate and
select content. As referred to herein, the terms "media asset" and
"content" should be understood to mean an electronically consumable
user asset, such as television programming, as well as pay-per-view
programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems),
Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadable content,
Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information, pictures,
rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles, books,
electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, social
media, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia
and/or combination of the same. Guidance applications also allow
users to navigate among and locate content. As referred to herein,
the term "multimedia" should be understood to mean content that
utilizes at least two different content forms described above, for
example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity content
forms. Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by
user equipment devices, but can also be part of a live
performance.
The media guidance application and/or any instructions for
performing any of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded
on computer readable media. Computer readable media includes any
media capable of storing data. The computer readable media may be
transitory, including, but not limited to, propagating electrical
or electromagnetic signals, or may be non-transitory including, but
not limited to, volatile and non-volatile computer memory or
storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD,
CD, media cards, register memory, processor caches, Random Access
Memory ("RAM"), etc.
With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed
wireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment
devices on which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein,
the phrase "user equipment device," "user equipment," "user
device," "electronic device," "electronic equipment," "media
equipment device," or "media device" should be understood to mean
any device for accessing the content described above, such as a
television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver
decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage
device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter
(DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a
connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY
recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet
computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC
media server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationary
telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone,
a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming
machine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment,
computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the
same. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a
front facing screen and a rear facing screen, multiple front
screens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the user
equipment device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear
facing camera. On these user equipment devices, users may be able
to navigate among and locate the same content available through a
television. Consequently, media guidance may be available on these
devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for content
available only through a television, for content available only
through one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or
for content available both through a television and one or more of
the other types of user equipment devices. The media guidance
applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e.,
provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients
on user equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may
implement media guidance applications are described in more detail
below.
One of the functions of the media guidance application is to
provide media guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the
phrase "media guidance data" or "guidance data" should be
understood to mean any data related to content or data used in
operating the guidance application. For example, the guidance data
may include program information, guidance application settings,
user preferences, user profile information, media listings,
media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast
channels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental
control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category
information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or
providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition,
high definition, 3D, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text,
images, media clips, etc.) on-demand information, blogs, websites,
and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to
navigate among and locate desired content selections.
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of preventing content from
being presented to a user in response to determining that the
content may contain spoilers, in accordance with some embodiments
of the disclosure. The media guidance application may determine
that certain content contains spoilers for an upcoming event that
the user may not want to be spoiled, and prevent the content from
being presented to the user in response. Various systems and
methods that may be used in one or more embodiments to determine
that content contains spoilers are discussed in relation to FIGS.
11-18, and may make use of the various databases and systems
discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-10. For example, the media
guidance application may have received data indicating that the
user recently watched the movie "Zompocalypse," a zombie horror
film. Based on that data, the media guidance application may have
determined that the user is likely to watch an upcoming episode of
"The Walking Dead," a zombie-themed television show, and would not
want the upcoming episode to be spoiled.
Display screen 100 may be generated for display by a media guidance
application, or by another application or device running in tandem
with the media guidance application. Display screen 100 may be
displayed, for instance, on a monitor or television display
connected to a set-top box running the media guidance application
(e.g., display 912 (FIG. 9)). Display screen 100 includes content
display area 102. In general, display area 102 may display content
requested by the user, or it may display whatever content is being
broadcast by a channel currently being tuned to by the media
guidance application.
When the media guidance application determines that user-requested
content may contain spoilers, it may instead display alternate
content in display area 102. For example, the media guidance
application may receive user input (e.g., via user input interface
910 (FIG. 9)) requesting that the media guidance application tune
to a channel that is displaying an episode of "The Walking Dead
Recap Show," a television program where a panel of guests discuss
episodes of "The Walking Dead" television program, and which
generally contains spoilers for episodes of "The Walking Dead"
television program. In this situation, if the media guidance
application has determined that user is likely to watch the
upcoming episode of "The Walking Dead" television program and may
not want the episode to be spoiled, the media guidance application
may display alternate content within display area 102 rather than
the requested episode of "The Walking Dead Recap Show" television
program. In some embodiments, when the requested content is being
broadcast on a television channel, the media guidance application
may tune to a different channel instead and display the resulting
broadcast within display area 102. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may identify alternate content that is similar
to the requested content. For example, if the originally requested
content was a zombie-themed television program, the alternate
content may be a different zombie-themed television program. As
another example, if the originally requested content was a movie,
the alternate content may be a different movie.
As part of the alternate content, the media guidance application
may display prompt 104 within display area 102. In general, prompt
104 may inform the user about the potential spoiler, and elaborate
on what content or event the media guidance application was
attempting to protect from being spoiled, why the media guidance
application chose the content to be protected from being spoiled,
or provide any other information that may be of interest to the
user. For example, if the media guidance application is preventing
an episode of "The Walking Dead Recap Show" from being displayed to
the user, due to the fact that it may contain spoilers for the
television program "The Walking Dead," this information may be
provided to the user in prompt 104. Display screen 100 may also
include a browser bar 106. Browser bar 106 may allow the user to
see the content currently being provided by the media guidance
application and allow the user to interact with the media guidance
application while prompt 104 is displayed. In general, the user may
still interact with the media guidance application and access any
of the media guidance application functions while prompt 104 is
being displayed.
In some embodiments, the alternate content may include one or more
selectable options. These options may be displayed within prompt
104, and may include options to access the originally requested
content, access the originally requested content at a later time,
or to confirm that the originally requested content is not to be
presented. For example, prompt 104 may include the option for the
user to ignore the spoiler warning and access the originally
requested content by providing the appropriate input on a remote
control or other user input device. Other examples of selectable
options that may be presented to the user are discussed in relation
to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of alternate content provided
to the user when preventing content from being presented, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Display 200 may
be presented to the user as the alternate content, or it may be
presented as part of a larger display of alternate content (e.g.,
as the prompt 104 of the display 100 in FIG. 1). Display 200 may
include an informational prompt 202. In general, informational
prompt 202 may inform the user about the potential spoiler, what
event is potentially being spoiled, and elaborate on what factors
the media guidance application considered when it determined that
the event should be protected from being spoiled. For example,
prompt 202 may inform the user that the media guidance application
determined that the user enjoys "Punk and Indie Rock Bands," such
as the band "Sleater-Kinney." The media guidance application may
have determined this information any number of ways, for example,
by analyzing information contained in a user profile associated
with the user, or by making use of the various databases and
systems discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-10 in conjunction with one
or more of the methods discussed in relation to FIGS. 11-18. The
prompt 202 may also inform the user that the media guidance
application is preventing the content from being displayed because
it may contain spoilers for an upcoming "Sleater-Kinney" tour.
Display 200 may include several selectable options 204-208.
Selectable option 204 is an option to have the requested content
presented. If a user selects the selectable option 204, the display
200 may disappear, and the originally requested content may be
presented to the user, despite the fact that it potentially
contains spoilers. Selectable option 206 is an option to delay
presentation of the content to a later time. For example, if the
requested content contains a spoiler for an upcoming
"Sleater-Kinney" tour, the user may wish to delay the presentation
of the content until after the "Sleater-Kinney" tour has ended. In
some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a
suggested amount of time to delay presentation of the content in
response to a user selecting an option to delay presentation of the
content. For example, if the content contains spoilers for a
particular event, the media guidance application may suggest
delaying the presentation of the content until after the event has
ended. In this case, the media guidance application may access
metadata for the event from an events database (e.g., database 400
(FIG. 4)) to determine a scheduled end time for the event.
Selectable option 208 is an option to block potential spoilers from
being shown. In some embodiments, user selection of an option to
block the spoilers will cause the media guidance application to
censor the spoilers from the content. Depending on the type of
content, the media guidance application may accomplish this by
redacting written content, bleeping audio content, displaying
censor bars over portions of visual content, or utilizing any other
type of suitable censorship technique.
It will be understood that selectable options 204-208 are intended
to be illustrative, and not limiting. In general, display 200 may
contain any number of options, and may include other types of
options. For example, one of the selectable options within display
200 may be an option for the content to not be shown, an option for
a user to access different types of suggested content similar to
the requested content, one of the selectable options discussed in
relation to FIG. 3, or any other suitable option.
FIG. 3 shows another illustrative example of alternate content
provided to the user when preventing content from being presented,
in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Similar to
display 200 (FIG. 2), display 300 may be presented to the user as
the alternate content, or it may be presented as part of a larger
display of alternate content (e.g., as prompt 104 of display 100
(FIG. 1)). Display 300 may include an informational prompt 302,
which may inform the user about the potential spoiler. For example,
prompt 302 may inform the user that because the user purchased
tickets for a show "Star Wars Midnight Screening Marathon," the
media guidance application determined that the user may not want to
view the requested content because it contains spoilers for the new
"Star Wars" movie. In general, the media guidance application may
have determined this information any number of ways, for example,
by using one of the methods discussed in relation to FIG. 11 or
FIG. 14, or by making use of the various databases and systems
discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-10.
Display 300 may include several selectable options 304-310. Similar
to selectable option 204 within display 200 (see FIG. 2),
selectable option 304 is an option to ignore the warning of
potential spoilers and have the requested content presented.
Selectable option 306 is an option to not display the requested
content, and to display different content instead. In general, the
content suggested to the user in selectable option 306 may be
chosen by the media guidance application based on any number of
factors, including a user profile for a user, a purchase history
for the user, a record of previous user behavior, or known
preferences of the user. For example, if the media guidance
application checks the recordings on the user's home DVR and
notices that the user has recorded several zombie-themed television
shows, the media guidance application may suggest that the user
view a video-on-demand (VOD) copy of the zombie-themed television
show "The Walking Dead" in place of the originally requested
content.
Selectable option 308 is another option to not display the
requested content, and to display different content instead. In
general, the content suggested to the user in selectable options
306 and 308 may be of any type. For example, the selectable option
306 may allow the user to watch a television show available
"on-demand," while the selectable option 308 may allow the user to
watch a program being broadcast live on a particular channel. In
some embodiments, the media guidance application may offer other
types of content to the user within the selectable options 304-310.
For example, the media guidance application may provide an option
to view a television channel, read news articles, browse social
media, visit a website available over the Internet, play a game,
access an application, browse content available from a streaming
service, or access any of the other typical features which may be
available to an interactive electronic program guide.
Selectable option 310 is an option to return to a program guide.
For example, if the user requested the content from a program guide
provided by the media guidance application, the media guidance
application may offer the user the opportunity to return to the
program guide. In general, the selectable option 310 may allow a
user to return to whatever previous activity he or she was involved
in prior to requesting the content. For example, if the user was
browsing a web page on the Internet and requested the content by
clicking on a hyperlink, the selectable option 310 presented by the
media guidance application may allow the user to return to the web
page he or she was previously browsing. It will be understood that
the selectable options 304-310 are intended to be illustrative, and
not limiting. In general, display 300 may contain any number of
options, and may include other types of options.
FIG. 4 shows an illustrative events database, which may be used in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Database 400
may be an events database configured to store event entries, such
as event entries 412-430. Each of event entries 412-430 includes
several information fields, each of which corresponds to one of the
information fields 402-410. These may include event name
information field 402, event ID information field 404, one or more
event feature information fields 406, one or more associated event
information fields 408, one or more associated purchase code
information fields 410, or any type of suitable information field.
In general, database 400 may be relational, self-referential, or
have any type of internal structure.
In general, database 400 may be accessed by a media guidance
application, and may be used by a media guidance application to
identify features of a given event, or other events associated with
a given event. In some embodiments, the database 400 may be stored
within the memory of a user device (e.g., within storage 908 (FIG.
9). In some embodiments, the database 400 may be a remote database
(e.g., stored within media content source 1016 or media guidance
data source 1018 (FIG. 10)), which may be accessed over the
Internet or a communications network (e.g., over the communications
network 1014 (FIG. 10)) using an appropriate API.
Event entries 412-430 include an event name information field 402,
and an event identifier (event ID) information field 404. For
example, for event entry 412, the event name information field 402
is "Dolly Parton Sings!," and the event ID information field 404 is
the alphanumeric identifier "AA123." Each event entry 412-430 may
have one or more event feature information fields 406, describing
features that appear in the respective event. For example, event
feature information fields 406 for event entry 412 indicate that
the associated event is a "Live Event," a "Music Concert" event,
and a "Genre: Country" event. In general, a media guidance
application may search for event entries 412-430 that have a
particular type of feature listed in one of the event feature
information fields 406. The media guidance application may also
search for commonality in the event feature information fields 406
for different event entries 412-430 in order to find events that
share features in common.
Event entries 412-430 may have any number of associated event
information fields 408 that identify other related events. For
illustrative purposes, database 400 depicts associated event
information field 408 referring to the associated events by use of
an event ID (e.g., the event ID listed in the event ID information
fields 404), but any convenient means may be used to refer to the
related events within the database 400. For example, event entry
412 for the event entitled "Dolly Parton Sings!" has associated
event information fields 408 listing event ID "BB234" corresponding
to the event associated with event entry 412 entitled "Jack White
Croons!," and event ID "CC345" corresponding to the event
associated with the event entry 416 entitled "9 to 5." In general,
a media guidance application may access data for any of the event
entries 412-430, and use the associated event information fields
408 to quickly identify other associated events and the respective
event entries 412-430 for those associated events.
Event entries 412-430 may have any number of associated purchase
code information fields 410 that identify purchase codes for
purchases related to the events. Each of the purchase codes in the
associated purchase code information fields 410 may be associated
with one or more user purchase activities. The media guidance
application may use the purchase codes in conjunction with a
purchase activity database (e.g., database 600 (FIG. 6)) in order
to look up additional information about a purchase. This may
include information about different types of events associated with
purchase that corresponds to a given purchase code.
It will be understood that the information fields 402-410 in
database 400 are intended to be illustrative, and not limiting. In
some embodiments, the database 400 may include event entries with
any number of information fields, and the information fields may
generally contain any type of data other than the ones described by
the information fields 402-410. In some embodiments, there may be
an information field containing a brief description of the event,
an information field listing content (e.g., media assets)
associated with the event, an information field containing links to
related websites, an information field logging user activities
related to the event, or any other type of information field. For
example, a media guidance application may access one of the event
entries 412-430 and identify content associated with a respective
one of the event entries. The media guidance application may then
find additional information about each of the content listed in the
event entries 412-430, for example, by making use of a content
database (e.g., database 500 (FIG. 5)), or media guidance data
source (e.g., media guidance data source 1018 (FIG. 10)).
FIG. 5 shows an illustrative content database, which may be used in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For
illustrative purposes, database 500 is depicted as storing
information about various types of media content. However, database
500 may be configured to store information about any type of
content, including media, multimedia, movies, games, or events.
Database 500 is configured to content entries 514-520. Each of the
content entries 514-520 includes several information fields
502-512. These may include content title fields 502, content
identifier (content ID) fields 504, keyword fields 506, description
fields 508, associated content fields 510, spoiler flag fields 512,
or any other type of suitable information fields. The database 500
may also contain other general metadata for each of the content
associated with content entries 514-520, and which may be stored in
one or more of the information fields of a given entry. In general,
database 500 may be relational, self-referential, or have any type
of internal structure.
In general, database 500 may be accessed by a media guidance
application, and may be used by a media guidance application to
look up information about different media assets, events, or other
types of content. In some embodiments, the database 500 may be
stored within the memory of a user device (e.g., within storage 908
(FIG. 9). In some embodiments, the database 500 may be a remote
database (e.g., stored within media content source 1016 or media
guidance data source 1018 (FIG. 10)), which may be accessed over
the Internet or a communications network (e.g., over the
communications network 1014 (FIG. 10)) using an appropriate
API.
Content entries 514-520 include a content title field 502, and a
content ID field 504. For example, for content entry 514, the
content title field 502 is "The Walking Dead Future Episode," and
the content ID field 504 is the unique alphanumeric identifier
"QQ789." Each of the content entries 514-520 may have one or more
keyword fields 506. For example, the keyword fields 506 for content
entry 514 include the keywords "New Show," "Genre: Horror," and
"Zombie Themed." Each of the content entries 514-520 may also
include a description field 508, which may generally describe the
content associated with each of the given content entries
514-520.
Each of the content entries 514-520 may have one or more associated
content fields 510, and corresponding spoiler flag fields 512
indicating whether or not the content associated with a given entry
contains a spoiler for the associated content listed in the
database 500. For illustrative purposes, database 500 depicts
associated content fields 510 referring to the associated content
by use of a content ID (e.g., the content ID listed in the content
ID fields 504), but any convenient means may be used to refer to
the associated content within the database 500. For example,
content entry 514 for the television program "The Walking Dead
Future Episode" has an associated content field 510 for content ID
"RR123" corresponding to television program "The Walking Dead Recap
Show" associated with content entry 516. Additionally, the
corresponding spoiler flag field 512 indicates that the television
program "The Walking Dead Future Episode" has "No" spoilers for the
television program "The Walking Dead Recap Show" associated with
content entry 516. By comparison, content entry 514 for the
television program "The Walking Dead Future Episode" indicates that
the television program "The Walking Dead Future Episode" does
contain spoilers for the television program "The Walking Dead
Season Premiere" corresponding to content ID "WW234" and associated
with content entry 518.
By checking the associated content fields 510 and spoiler flag
fields 512, a media guidance application may easily look up a given
content entry 514-520 in the database 500 and quickly determine
whether or not a given content contains a spoiler for another
content. In general, database 500 may be used to store information
about any type of content associated with a given content, and
store information about whether or not there is a spoiler for that
content contained in the content. For example, in some embodiments
the associated content fields 510 may be replaced or supplemented
by associated content information fields, which may be used to
track any type of associated content such as books, videos,
periodicals, multimedia, movies, games, or events, as well as
whether or not a given content contains spoilers for the associated
content.
It is understood that the information fields 502-512 are intended
to be illustrative, and not limiting. In some embodiments, the
database 500 may include entries with any number of information
fields, and the information fields may generally contain any type
of data other than the ones described by the information fields
502-512. Additionally, some or all of the database 500 may be
combined with some or all of the database 400 (FIG. 4), and the
general techniques and types of information fields used in
connection with database 500 may be applied to any other database,
including database 400. For example, a media guidance application
may identify one or more events associated with a given content
entry within database 500, and determine if the content contains a
spoiler for a given event. As another example, a media guidance
application may search for events ID's associated with a given
purchase code by searching the purchase code information fields 410
of the event entries 412-430 in database 400 (FIG. 4), use the
event ID's to search for content entries 514-520 in database 500
(FIG. 5) that are associated with the identified event ID's, and
determine if the associated content contains spoilers for any
events associated with those event ID's.
FIG. 6 shows an illustrative purchase activity database, which may
be used in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
Database 600 may be a purchase activity database configured to
store information about purchases, such as purchase entries
612-616. Each of the purchase entries 612-616 includes several
information fields, each of which corresponds to one of the
information fields 602-610. These may include purchase code fields
602, purchase source fields 604, associated event fields 606, event
ID fields 608, a purchase description field 610, or any type of
suitable information field. In general, database 600 may be
relational, self-referential, or have any type of internal
structure.
In general, database 600 may be accessed by a media guidance
application, and may be used by a media guidance application to
look up information about different types of purchases. In some
embodiments, the database 600 may be stored within the memory of a
user device (e.g., within storage 908 (FIG. 9). In some
embodiments, the database 600 may be a remote database (e.g.,
stored within media content source 1016 or media guidance data
source 1018 (FIG. 10)), which may be accessed over the Internet or
a communications network (e.g., over the communications network
1014 (FIG. 10)) using an appropriate API.
Purchase entries 612-616 include a purchase code field 602. Each of
purchase code field 602 may contain a unique alphanumeric purchase
code identifying the item that was purchased. In general, the media
guidance application may generate the purchase codes based on
purchase information received from venders, or the venders may
provide purchase codes directly to the media guidance application.
Purchase entries 612-616 also include a purchase source field 604,
indicating where an item was purchased from, and a purchase
description field 610, describing the purchase. For example, the
purchase associated with purchase entry 612 in the database 600 was
a live event ticket "Multi-Day Dolly Parton Tour Pass" purchased
from the vendor "TicketMaster."
Each purchase entry 612-616 includes one or more associated event
fields 606, and corresponding event ID fields 608, listing events
that are associated with a given purchase. For example, for
purchase entry 612 corresponding to a live event ticket "Multi-Day
Dolly Parton Tour Pass," one of the associated events is the
concert "Dolly Parton Sings!," which may also be identified by the
corresponding event ID "AA123." In general, the format of the event
ID's stored in the event ID fields 608 may match the format used in
the database 400, and the media guidance application may use an
event ID retrieved from the database 600 to look up information
about an event associated with a given purchase using database 400,
or any other type of suitable database.
It is understood that the information fields 602-610 are intended
to be illustrative, and not limiting. In some embodiments, the
database 600 may include purchase entries with any number of
information fields, and the information fields may generally
contain any type of data other than the ones described by the
information fields 602-610. Additionally, some or all of the
database 600 may be combined with some or all of databases 400
(FIG. 4) or 500 (FIG. 5), and the general techniques and types of
information fields used in connection with database 600 may be
applied to any other database, including database 400 and database
500. For example, a media guidance application may identify one or
more events associated with a given purchase entry within database
600, and, using the event ID for the associated event to search the
entries within database 500, determine if any of the content
contain spoilers for associated event.
FIGS. 7-8 show illustrative display screens that may be used to
provide media guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 7-8
may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or
platform. While the displays of FIGS. 7-8 are illustrated as full
screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over
content being displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access
content information by selecting a selectable option provided in a
display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a
hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE
button) on a remote control or other user input interface or
device. In response to the user's indication, the media guidance
application may provide a display screen with media guidance data
organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a
grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category
(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of
programming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other
organization criteria.
FIG. 7 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 700
arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different
types of content in a single display. Display 700 may include grid
702 with: (1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 704,
where each channel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the
column) identifies a different channel or content type available;
and (2) a row of time identifiers 706, where each time identifier
(which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of
programming. Grid 702 also includes cells of program listings, such
as program listing 708, where each listing provides the title of
the program provided on the listing's associated channel and time.
With a user input device, a user can select program listings by
moving highlight region 710. Information relating to the program
listing selected by highlight region 710 may be provided in program
information region 712. Region 712 may include, for example, the
program title, the program description, the time the program is
provided (if applicable), the channel the program is on (if
applicable), the program's rating, and other desired
information.
In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g.,
content that is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user
equipment devices at a predetermined time and is provided according
to a schedule), the media guidance application also provides access
to non-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user
equipment device at any time and is not provided according to a
schedule). Non-linear programming may include content from
different content sources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD),
Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.),
locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any user equipment
device described above or other storage device), or other
time-independent content. On-demand content may include movies or
any other content provided by a particular content provider (e.g.,
HBO On Demand providing "The Sopranos" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm").
HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P.
et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks
owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web
events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available
on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content through an
Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).
Grid 702 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programming
including on-demand listing 714, recorded content listing 716, and
Internet content listing 718. A display combining media guidance
data for content from different types of content sources is
sometimes referred to as a "mixed-media" display. Various
permutations of the types of media guidance data that may be
displayed that are different than display 700 may be based on user
selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of
only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast
listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings 714, 716, and 718 are
shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 702 to
indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a
display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or
Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings for
these content types may be included directly in grid 702.
Additional media guidance data may be displayed in response to the
user selecting one of the navigational icons 720. (Pressing an
arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a
similar manner as selecting navigational icons 720.)
Display 700 may also include video region 722, advertisement 724,
and options region 726. Video region 722 may allow the user to view
and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be
available, or were available to the user. The content of video
region 722 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the
listings displayed in grid 702. Grid displays including a video
region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG)
displays. PIG displays and their functionalities are described in
greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378,
issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued
May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in
their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media
guidance application display screens of the embodiments described
herein.
Advertisement 724 may provide an advertisement for content that,
depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscription
programming), is currently available for viewing, will be available
for viewing in the future, or may never become available for
viewing, and may correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of
the content listings in grid 702. Advertisement 724 may also be for
products or services related or unrelated to the content displayed
in grid 702. Advertisement 724 may be selectable and provide
further information about content, provide information about a
product or a service, enable purchasing of content, a product, or a
service, provide content relating to the advertisement, etc.
Advertisement 724 may be targeted based on a user's
profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of display
provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.
While advertisement 724 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,
advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and
location in a guidance application display. For example,
advertisement 724 may be provided as a rectangular shape that is
horizontally adjacent to grid 702. This is sometimes referred to as
a panel advertisement. In addition, advertisements may be overlaid
over content or a guidance application display or embedded within a
display. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating
images, video clips, or other types of content described above.
Advertisements may be stored in a user equipment device having a
guidance application, in a database connected to the user
equipment, in a remote location (including streaming media
servers), or on other storage means, or a combination of these
locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application
is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al.,
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan.
17, 2003; Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29,
2004; and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14,
2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their
entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be
included in other media guidance application display screens of the
embodiments described herein.
Options region 726 may allow the user to access different types of
content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance
application features. Options region 726 may be part of display 700
(and other display screens described herein), or may be invoked by
a user by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or
assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options
within options region 726 may concern features related to program
listings in grid 702 or may include options available from a main
menu display. Features related to program listings may include
searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program,
recording a program, enabling series recording of a program,
setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program,
or other features. Options available from a main menu display may
include search options, VOD options, parental control options,
Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronization
options, second screen device options, options to access various
types of media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a
premium service, options to edit a user's profile, options to
access a browse overlay, or other options.
The media guidance application may be personalized based on a
user's preferences. A personalized media guidance application
allows a user to customize displays and features to create a
personalized "experience" with the media guidance application. This
personalized experience may be created by allowing a user to input
these customizations and/or by the media guidance application
monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences.
Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging
in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application.
Customization of the media guidance application may be made in
accordance with a user profile. The customizations may include
varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font
size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,
only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channels
based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of
channels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features
(e.g., recording or series recordings for particular users,
recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, customized
presentation of Internet content (e.g., presentation of social
media content, e-mail, electronically delivered articles, etc.) and
other desired customizations.
The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user
profile information or may automatically compile user profile
information. The media guidance application may, for example,
monitor the content the user accesses and/or other interactions the
user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the
media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user
profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other
web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as
www.allrovi.com, from other media guidance applications the user
accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses,
from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/or
obtain information about the user from other sources that the media
guidance application may access. As a result, a user can be
provided with a unified guidance application experience across the
user's different user equipment devices. This type of user
experience is described in greater detail below in connection with
FIG. 10. Additional personalized media guidance application
features are described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11,
2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007,
and Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by
reference herein in their entireties.
Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown
in FIG. 8. Video mosaic display 800 includes selectable options 802
for content information organized based on content type, genre,
and/or other organization criteria. In display 800, television
listings option 804 is selected, thus providing listings 806, 808,
810, and 812 as broadcast program listings. In display 800 the
listings may provide graphical images including cover art, still
images from the content, video clip previews, live video from the
content, or other types of content that indicate to a user the
content being described by the media guidance data in the listing.
Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to
provide further information about the content associated with the
listing. For example, listing 808 may include more than one
portion, including media portion 814 and text portion 816. Media
portion 814 and/or text portion 816 may be selectable to view
content in full-screen or to view information related to the
content displayed in media portion 814 (e.g., to view listings for
the channel that the video is displayed on).
The listings in display 800 are of different sizes (i.e., listing
806 is larger than listings 808, 810, and 812), but if desired, all
the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different
sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to
the user or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the content
provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods
for graphically accentuating content listings are discussed in, for
example, Yates, U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.
Users may access content and the media guidance application (and
its display screens described above and below) from one or more of
their user equipment devices. FIG. 9 shows a generalized embodiment
of illustrative user equipment device 900. More specific
implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in
connection with FIG. 10. User equipment device 900 may receive
content and data via input/output (hereinafter "I/O") path 902. I/O
path 902 may provide content (e.g., broadcast programming,
on-demand programming, Internet content, content available over a
local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other
content) and data to control circuitry 904, which includes
processing circuitry 906 and storage 908. Control circuitry 904 may
be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable
data using I/O path 902. I/O path 902 may connect control circuitry
904 (and specifically processing circuitry 906) to one or more
communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be
provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are
shown as a single path in FIG. 9 to avoid overcomplicating the
drawing.
Control circuitry 904 may be based on any suitable processing
circuitry such as processing circuitry 906. As referred to herein,
processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based
on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal
processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate
arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs),
etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core,
quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or
supercomputer. In some embodiments, processing circuitry may be
distributed across multiple separate processors or processing
units, for example, multiple of the same type of processing units
(e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different
processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7
processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 904 executes
instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory
(i.e., storage 908). Specifically, control circuitry 904 may be
instructed by the media guidance application to perform the
functions discussed above and below. For example, the media
guidance application may provide instructions to control circuitry
904 to generate the media guidance displays. In some
implementations, any action performed by control circuitry 904 may
be based on instructions received from the media guidance
application.
In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 904 may
include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a
guidance application server or other networks or servers. The
instructions for carrying out the above mentioned functionality may
be stored on the guidance application server. Communications
circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital
network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a
telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for
communications with other equipment, or any other suitable
communications circuitry. Such communications may involve the
Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths
(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 10). In
addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that
enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or
communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from
each other (described in more detail below).
Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 908
that is part of control circuitry 904. As referred to herein, the
phrase "electronic storage device" or "storage device" should be
understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer
software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only
memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD)
recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD)
recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVR,
sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR), solid state
devices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or
any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or any
combination of the same. Storage 908 may be used to store various
types of content described herein as well as media guidance data
described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to
launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based
storage, described in relation to FIG. 10, may be used to
supplement storage 908 or instead of storage 908.
Control circuitry 904 may include video generating circuitry and
tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more
MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry,
high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video
circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry
(e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to
MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. Control circuitry
904 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and
downconverting content into the preferred output format of the user
equipment 900. Circuitry 904 may also include digital-to-analog
converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for
converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and
encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device to
receive and to display, to play, or to record content. The tuning
and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data.
The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning,
video generating, encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting,
scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using
software running on one or more general purpose or specialized
processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous
tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions,
picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,
etc.). If storage 908 is provided as a separate device from user
equipment 900, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including
multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 908.
A user may send instructions to control circuitry 904 using user
input interface 910. User input interface 910 may be any suitable
user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad,
keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice
recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. Display 912
may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other
elements of user equipment device 900. For example, display 912 may
be a touchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances,
user input interface 910 may be integrated with or combined with
display 912. Display 912 may be one or more of a monitor, a
television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device,
amorphous silicon display, low temperature poly silicon display,
electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, active matrix
display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathode
ray tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescent
display, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,
thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,
surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser
television, carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric
modulator display, or any other suitable equipment for displaying
visual images. In some embodiments, display 912 may be
HDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 912 may be a 3D display,
and the interactive media guidance application and any suitable
content may be displayed in 3D. A video card or graphics card may
generate the output to the display 912. The video card may offer
various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D
graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to
connect multiple monitors. The video card may be any processing
circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry 904. The
video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 904.
Speakers 914 may be provided as integrated with other elements of
user equipment device 900 or may be stand-alone units. The audio
component of videos and other content displayed on display 912 may
be played through speakers 914. In some embodiments, the audio may
be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and
outputs the audio via speakers 914.
The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable
architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application
wholly-implemented on user equipment device 900. In such an
approach, instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g.,
in storage 908), and data for use by the application is downloaded
on a periodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an
Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). Control
circuitry 904 may retrieve instructions of the application from
storage 908 and process the instructions to generate any of the
displays discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions,
control circuitry 904 may determine what action to perform when
input is received from input interface 910. For example, movement
of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated by the processed
instructions when input interface 910 indicates that an up/down
button was selected.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a
client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin
client implemented on user equipment device 900 is retrieved
on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to the user
equipment device 900. In one example of a client-server based
guidance application, control circuitry 904 runs a web browser that
interprets web pages provided by a remote server. For example, the
remote server may store the instructions for the application in a
storage device. The remote server may process the stored
instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 904) and
generate the displays discussed above and below. The client device
may receive the displays generated by the remote server and may
display the content of the displays locally on equipment device
900. This way, the processing of the instructions is performed
remotely by the server while the resulting displays are provided
locally on equipment device 900. Equipment device 900 may receive
inputs from the user via input interface 910 and transmit those
inputs to the remote server for processing and generating the
corresponding displays. For example, equipment device 900 may
transmit a communication to the remote server indicating that an
up/down button was selected via input interface 910. The remote
server may process instructions in accordance with that input and
generate a display of the application corresponding to the input
(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated
display is then transmitted to equipment device 900 for
presentation to the user.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded
and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual
machine (run by control circuitry 904). In some embodiments, the
guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange
Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry 904 as part of a
suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control
circuitry 904. For example, the guidance application may be an EBIF
application. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be
defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run
by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by
control circuitry 904. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those
employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the
guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted
in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets
of a program.
User equipment device 900 of FIG. 9 can be implemented in system
1000 of FIG. 10 as user television equipment 1002, user computer
equipment 1004, wireless user communications device 1006, or any
other type of user equipment suitable for accessing content, such
as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may
be referred to herein collectively as user equipment or user
equipment devices, and may be substantially similar to user
equipment devices described above. User equipment devices, on which
a media guidance application may be implemented, may function as a
standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various
network configurations of devices may be implemented and are
discussed in more detail below.
A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system
features described above in connection with FIG. 9 may not be
classified solely as user television equipment 1002, user computer
equipment 1004, or a wireless user communications device 1006. For
example, user television equipment 1002 may, like some user
computer equipment 1004, be Internet-enabled allowing for access to
Internet content, while user computer equipment 1004 may, like some
user television equipment 1002, include a tuner allowing for access
to television programming. The media guidance application may have
the same layout on various different types of user equipment or may
be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For
example, on user computer equipment 1004, the guidance application
may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another
example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless
user communications devices 1006.
In system 1000, there is typically more than one of each type of
user equipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 10 to
avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may
utilize more than one type of user equipment device and also more
than one of each type of user equipment device.
In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user television
equipment 1002, user computer equipment 1004, wireless user
communications device 1006) may be referred to as a "second screen
device." For example, a second screen device may supplement content
presented on a first user equipment device. The content presented
on the second screen device may be any suitable content that
supplements the content presented on the first device. In some
embodiments, the second screen device provides an interface for
adjusting settings and display preferences of the first device. In
some embodiments, the second screen device is configured for
interacting with other second screen devices or for interacting
with a social network. The second screen device can be located in
the same room as the first device, a different room from the first
device but in the same house or building, or in a different
building from the first device.
The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media
guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote
devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as
channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the
guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations,
display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For
example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on, for example,
the web site www.allrovi.com on their personal computer at their
office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's
in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer
equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, if desired.
Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the
guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of
whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment
device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings
input by a user, as well as user activity monitored by the guidance
application.
The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network
1014. Namely, user television equipment 1002, user computer
equipment 1004, and wireless user communications device 1006 are
coupled to communications network 1014 via communications paths
1008, 1010, and 1012, respectively. Communications network 1014 may
be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone
network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network),
cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of
communications network or combinations of communications networks.
Paths 1008, 1010, and 1012 may separately or together include one
or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a
fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet
communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for
broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired
or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path
1012 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary
embodiment shown in FIG. 10 it is a wireless path and paths 1008
and 1010 are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths
(although these paths may be wireless paths, if desired).
Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by
one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a
single path in FIG. 10 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment
devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via
communication paths, such as those described above in connection
with paths 1008, 1010, and 1012, as well as other short-range
point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394
cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x,
etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless
paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG,
INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each
other directly through an indirect path via communications network
1014.
System 1000 includes content source 1016 and media guidance data
source 1018 coupled to communications network 1014 via
communication paths 1020 and 1022, respectively. Paths 1020 and
1022 may include any of the communication paths described above in
connection with paths 1008, 1010, and 1012. Communications with the
content source 1016 and media guidance data source 1018 may be
exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a
single path in FIG. 10 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In
addition, there may be more than one of each of content source 1016
and media guidance data source 1018, but only one of each is shown
in FIG. 10 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different
types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired,
content source 1016 and media guidance data source 1018 may be
integrated as one source device. Although communications between
sources 1016 and 1018 with user equipment devices 1002, 1004, and
1006 are shown as through communications network 1014, in some
embodiments, sources 1016 and 1018 may communicate directly with
user equipment devices 1002, 1004, and 1006 via communication paths
(not shown) such as those described above in connection with paths
1008, 1010, and 1012.
System 1000 may also include an advertisement source 1024 coupled
to communications network 1014 via a communications path 1026. Path
1026 may include any of the communication paths described above in
connection with paths 1008, 1010, and 1012. Advertisement source
1024 may include advertisement logic to determine which
advertisements to transmit to specific users and under which
circumstances. For example, a cable operator may have the right to
insert advertisements during specific time slots on specific
channels. Thus, advertisement source 1024 may transmit
advertisements to users during those time slots. As another
example, advertisement source may target advertisements based on
the demographics of users known to view a particular show (e.g.,
teenagers viewing a reality show). As yet another example,
advertisement source may provide different advertisements depending
on the location of the user equipment viewing a media asset (e.g.,
east coast or west coast).
In some embodiments, advertisement source 1024 may be configured to
maintain user information including advertisement-suitability
scores associated with user in order to provide targeted
advertising. Additionally or alternatively, a server associated
with advertisement source 1024 may be configured to store raw
information that may be used to derive advertisement-suitability
scores. In some embodiments, advertisement source 1024 may transmit
a request to another device for the raw information and calculate
the advertisement-suitability scores. Advertisement source 1024 may
update advertisement-suitability scores for specific users (e.g.,
first subset, second subset, or third subset of users) and transmit
an advertisement of the target product to appropriate users.
Content source 1016 may include one or more types of content
distribution equipment including a television distribution
facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility,
programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC,
ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or
servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other
content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National
Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the
American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned
by the Home Box Office, Inc. Content source 1016 may be the
originator of content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast
provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of content (e.g., an
on-demand content provider, an Internet provider of content of
broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). Content source 1016 may
include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers,
Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other
providers of content. Content source 1016 may also include a remote
media server used to store different types of content (including
video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of
the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage
of content, and providing remotely stored content to user equipment
are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al.,
U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, which is hereby
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Media guidance data source 1018 may provide media guidance data,
such as the media guidance data described above. Media guidance
data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any
suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application
may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that
receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous
feed or trickle feed). Program schedule data and other guidance
data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel
sideband, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band
digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission
technique. Program schedule data and other media guidance data may
be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital
television channels.
In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source
1018 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server
approach. For example, a user equipment device may pull media
guidance data from a server, or a server may push media guidance
data to a user equipment device. In some embodiments, a guidance
application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate
sessions with source 1018 to obtain guidance data when needed,
e.g., when the guidance data is out of date or when the user
equipment device receives a request from the user to receive data.
Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment with any
suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified
period of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a
request from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 1018
may provide user equipment devices 1002, 1004, and 1006 the media
guidance application itself or software updates for the media
guidance application.
In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer
data. For example, the viewer data may include current and/or
historical user activity information (e.g., what content the user
typically watches, what times of day the user watches content,
whether the user interacts with a social network, at what times the
user interacts with a social network to post information, what
types of content the user typically watches (e.g., pay TV or free
TV), mood, brain activity information, etc.). The media guidance
data may also include subscription data. For example, the
subscription data may identify to which sources or services a given
user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the given user
has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,
whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user
has added a premium level of services, whether the user has
increased Internet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data
and/or the subscription data may identify patterns of a given user
for a period of more than one year. The media guidance data may
include a model (e.g., a survivor model) used for generating a
score that indicates a likelihood a given user will terminate
access to a service/source. For example, the media guidance
application may process the viewer data with the subscription data
using the model to generate a value or score that indicates a
likelihood of whether the given user will terminate access to a
particular service or source. In particular, a higher score may
indicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminate
access to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the
media guidance application may generate promotions and
advertisements that entice the user to keep the particular service
or source indicated by the score as one to which the user will
likely terminate access.
Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone
applications implemented on user equipment devices. For example,
the media guidance application may be implemented as software or a
set of executable instructions which may be stored in storage 908,
and executed by control circuitry 904 of a user equipment device
900. In some embodiments, media guidance applications may be
client-server applications where only a client application resides
on the user equipment device, and server application resides on a
remote server. For example, media guidance applications may be
implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry
904 of user equipment device 900 and partially on a remote server
as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 1018)
running on control circuitry of the remote server. When executed by
control circuitry of the remote server (such as media guidance data
source 1018), the media guidance application may instruct the
control circuitry to generate the guidance application displays and
transmit the generated displays to the user equipment devices. The
server application may instruct the control circuitry of the media
guidance data source 1018 to transmit data for storage on the user
equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry of
the receiving user equipment to generate the guidance application
displays.
Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment
devices 1002, 1004, and 1006 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT
content delivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including
any user equipment device described above, to receive content that
is transferred over the Internet, including any content described
above, in addition to content received over cable or satellite
connections. OTT content is delivered via an Internet connection
provided by an Internet service provider (ISP), but a third party
distributes the content. The ISP may not be responsible for the
viewing abilities, copyrights, or redistribution of the content,
and may only transfer IP packets provided by the OTT content
provider. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE,
NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IP packets.
Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is a trademark
owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu, LLC.
OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively provide
media guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or
media guidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media
guidance applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based
applications), or the content can be displayed by media guidance
applications stored on the user equipment device.
Media guidance system 1000 is intended to illustrate a number of
approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment
devices and sources of content and guidance data may communicate
with each other for the purpose of accessing content and providing
media guidance. The embodiments described herein may be applied in
any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing
other approaches for delivering content and providing media
guidance. The following four approaches provide specific
illustrations of the generalized example of FIG. 10.
In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each
other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate
with each other directly via short-range point-to-point
communication schemes described above, via indirect paths through a
hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or via
communications network 1014. Each of the multiple individuals in a
single home may operate different user equipment devices on the
home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media
guidance information or settings to be communicated between the
different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable
for users to maintain consistent media guidance application
settings on different user equipment devices within a home network,
as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent
Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types
of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate
with each other to transmit content. For example, a user may
transmit content from user computer equipment to a portable video
player or portable music player.
In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user
equipment by which they access content and obtain media guidance.
For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by
in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a
media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For
example, users may access an online media guidance application on a
website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device
such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set
various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings)
on the online guidance application to control the user's in-home
equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment
directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on
the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user
equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices
are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for
example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issued Oct. 25,
2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and
outside a home can use their media guidance application to
communicate directly with content source 1016 to access content.
Specifically, within a home, users of user television equipment
1002 and user computer equipment 1004 may access the media guidance
application to navigate among and locate desirable content. Users
may also access the media guidance application outside of the home
using wireless user communications devices 1006 to navigate among
and locate desirable content.
In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloud
computing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud
computing environment, various types of computing services for
content sharing, storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites
or social networking sites) are provided by a collection of
network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as
"the cloud." For example, the cloud can include a collection of
server computing devices, which may be located centrally or at
distributed locations, that provide cloud-based services to various
types of users and devices connected via a network such as the
Internet via communications network 1014. These cloud resources may
include one or more content sources 1016 and one or more media
guidance data sources 1018. In addition or in the alternative, the
remote computing sites may include other user equipment devices,
such as user television equipment 1002, user computer equipment
1004, and wireless user communications device 1006. For example,
the other user equipment devices may provide access to a stored
copy of a video or a streamed video. In such embodiments, user
equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without
communicating with a central server.
The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage,
content sharing, or social networking services, among other
examples, as well as access to any content described above, for
user equipment devices. Services can be provided in the cloud
through cloud computing service providers, or through other
providers of online services. For example, the cloud-based services
can include a content storage service, a content sharing site, a
social networking site, or other services via which user-sourced
content is distributed for viewing by others on connected devices.
These cloud-based services may allow a user equipment device to
store content to the cloud and to receive content from the cloud
rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-stored
content.
A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,
digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones,
and handheld computing devices, to record content. The user can
upload content to a content storage service on the cloud either
directly, for example, from user computer equipment 1004 or
wireless user communications device 1006 having content capture
feature. Alternatively, the user can first transfer the content to
a user equipment device, such as user computer equipment 1004. The
user equipment device storing the content uploads the content to
the cloud using a data transmission service on communications
network 1014. In some embodiments, the user equipment device itself
is a cloud resource, and other user equipment devices can access
the content directly from the user equipment device on which the
user stored the content.
Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using,
for example, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktop
application, a mobile application, and/or any combination of access
applications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloud
client that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or
the user equipment device may have some functionality without
access to cloud resources. For example, some applications running
on the user equipment device may be cloud applications, i.e.,
applications delivered as a service over the Internet, while other
applications may be stored and run on the user equipment device. In
some embodiments, a user device may receive content from multiple
cloud resources simultaneously. For example, a user device can
stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from
a second cloud resource. Or a user device can download content from
multiple cloud resources for more efficient downloading. In some
embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloud resources for
processing operations such as the processing operations performed
by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 9.
As referred herein, the term "in response to" refers to initiated
as a result of. For example, a first action being performed in
response to a second action may include interstitial steps between
the first action and the second action. As referred herein, the
term "directly in response to" refers to caused by. For example, a
first action being performed directly in response to a second
action may not include interstitial steps between the first action
and the second action.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for preventing a
spoiler from being presented to a user based on a purchase
activity, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
For example, a media guidance application implementing process 1100
may be executed by control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9). It should be
noted that process 1100 or any portion thereof could be performed
on, or be provided by, any of the devices discussed in relation to
FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize any of the databases discussed in
relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should also be noted that process 1100 or
any of the individual procedures discussed in relation to process
1100 may be combined with any of the other processes in this
disclosure, including the processes discussed in relation to FIGS.
12-18.
Process 1100 begins at 1102, where the media guidance application
receives (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) data
representing purchase activity associated with a user. For example,
the media guidance application may receive (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) data from an online vender over a
communications network (e.g., via communications network 1014 (FIG.
10) describing a user purchase. In some embodiments, the received
data may include a purchase description, a purchase price, a
purchase source, or a purchase code which may be used by the media
guidance application to search a purchases database (e.g., database
600 (FIG. 6)).
Process 1100 continues to 1004, where the media guidance
application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
based on the received data, an event associated with the purchase
activity. In general, the media guidance application may receive
data that includes a purchase description, a purchase price, a
purchase source, a purchase code, or other information that may be
used to search a database (e.g., database 600 (FIG. 6)) and
identify events associated with the purchase activity represented
by the received data. The media guidance application may then
select one of the identified events associated with the purchase
activity from the purchases database. For example, if the media
guidance application searches database 600 (FIG. 6) with the
purchase code "SCI76" corresponding to purchase entry 614 (FIG. 6)
for the live event ticket "General Admission for Evil Dead with
Walking Dead Sneak Peek," the media guidance application may select
the event entitled "The Walking Dead Season Premiere" from one of
the associated events fields 606 of purchase entry 614.
Process 1100 continues to 1006, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
content associated with the selected event. In general, the media
guidance application may use the name of the selected event or an
identifier for the selected event to search a database (e.g., the
databases 400 (FIG. 4) or 500 (FIG. 5)) and identify content
associated with the given event. For example, the media guidance
application may accomplish this by searching a version of database
500 (FIG. 5) that includes content entries 514-520 representing
events, and list media assets, events, or other content associated
with the events represented by content entries 514-520. In this
case, the media guidance application may use the name of the
selected event (e.g., the title of the event "The Walking Dead
Season Premiere") or an identification code for the selected event
(e.g., event ID "FF789") to search for matching content entries
514-520 in database 500, and identify the content associated with
the selected event using the associated content fields 510 for the
matching database entries.
Process 1100 continues to 1008, where the media guidance
application processes (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
metadata associated with the identified content to determine
whether the metadata indicates that the identified content includes
a spoiler for the selected event. For example, the media guidance
application may search a content database (e.g., database 500 (FIG.
5)) for metadata indicating whether or not the content contains
spoilers for the selected event. In this case, the media guidance
application may search the database 500 (FIG. 5) for metadata
associated with the television program "The Walking Dead Recap
Show," which the database 500 indicates is associated with the
television program "The Walking Dead Season Premiere," and
determine from the spoiler flag fields 512 for content entry 516
that the television program "The Walking Dead Recap Show" does
contain spoilers for the television program "The Walking Dead
Season Premiere." Other techniques for processing metadata and
determining whether metadata indicates that identified content
contains spoilers, which may be used in conjunction with some
embodiments of process 1100, are discussed in relation to FIG.
17.
Process 1100 continues to 1010, where the media guidance
application prevents (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the
identified content from being presented to the user in response to
determining that the metadata indicates that the identified content
includes the spoiler. For example, in response to determining that
the television program "The Walking Dead Recap Show" does contain
spoilers for the television program "The Walking Dead Season
Premiere," which in turn was associated with the original user
purchase activity, the media guidance application may prevent the
television program "The Walking Dead Recap Show" from being
displayed to the user. The media guidance application may prevent
the content from being presented any number of ways. For example,
the media guidance application may refuse to display the television
program "The Walking Dead Recap Show," and display some type of
alternate content instead if the user attempts to access the
television program "The Walking Dead Recap Show." As another
example, the media guidance application may prevent the television
program "The Walking Dead Recap Show" from being displayed within a
program listings display (e.g., program listings display 700 (FIG.
7)), thereby removing the ability of the user to request access to
the content from within the program listings display. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may also use one of the
techniques for preventing content from being presented to the user
discussed in relation to FIGS. 1-3 as part of process 1100.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 11 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 11 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed
in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to
reduce lag or increase the speed of the system or method. For
example, a media guidance application may identify content
associated with a selected event at 1106 by use of metadata, while
simultaneously processing the metadata to determine whether the
content includes spoilers at 1108. This may reduce the total amount
of time needed to perform process 1100. Furthermore, it should be
noted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation to
FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 or the databases discussed in relation to FIGS.
4-6 could be used to perform one or more of the steps in FIG.
11.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for preventing a
spoiler from being presented to a user based on an activity, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, a
media guidance application implementing process 1200 may be
executed by control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9). It should be noted that
process 1200 or any portion thereof could be performed on, or be
provided by, any of the devices discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or
FIG. 10, and utilize any of the databases discussed in relation to
FIGS. 4-6. It should also be noted that process 1200 or any of the
individual procedures discussed in relation to process 1200 may be
combined with any of the other processes in this disclosure,
including the processes discussed in relation to FIG. 11 or FIGS.
13-18.
Process 1200 begins at 1202, where the media guidance application
receives (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) data
identifying an activity performed by the user, wherein the activity
is associated with a first event. For example, the media guidance
application may receive data indicating that the user made a
purchase which is associated with a first event, data indicating
that the user accessed a television show or scheduled a recording
for a media asset which is associated with a first event, data
indicating that the user communicated on social media about a first
event, or any type of suitable data indicating a user activity. For
instance, the media guidance application may receive data
indicating that the user communicated on social media about an
upcoming event, a broadcast of the television program episode
entitled "The Walking Dead Season Premiere."
Process 1200 continues to 1204, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a
feature that appears in the first event. In general, a media
guidance application may identify the feature by first looking up
the event in an events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)) that
lists features associated with each event. For example, the media
guidance application may query database 400 (FIG. 4) for event
feature information fields 406 for event entries 412-430 within
database 400 that match name of the event entitled "The Walking
Dead Season Premiere." In this case, the database will return the
event feature information fields 406 for event entry 422, which
includes the features "Scheduled Broadcast," "Genre: Horror," and
"Zombie Themed." The media guidance application may then use one of
these features (e.g., the feature "Zombie Themed") as the
identified feature associated with the event entitled "The Walking
Dead Season Premiere."
Process 1200 continues to 1206, where the media guidance
application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a
second event that matches a user profile and in which a given
feature corresponding to the identified feature appears. For
example, the media guidance application may use an events database
(e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)) to identify other events where the
identified feature appears, and select one of the identified events
that matches user preferences listed inside of a user profile. For
instance, if the media guidance application searches the database
400 (FIG. 4) for other events that include the feature "Zombie
Themed," the media guidance application may identify event entries
424-430 for the events entitled "The Walking Dead Recap Show," "The
Walking Dead Premiere Rerun," "Evil Dead!," and "See Evil Dead with
Tom." The media guidance application may then use the user profile
and determine that the user has a preference for events that
include the feature "Live Event," and select entry 428 for the
event entitled "Evil Dead!" as the second event that matches the
user profile and is associated with the given feature "Zombie
Themed."
Process 1200 continues to 1208, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
content associated with the second event. In general, the media
guidance application may use the name of the selected event or an
identifier for the selected event to search a database (e.g., the
databases 400 (FIG. 4) or 500 (FIG. 5)) and identify content
associated with the given event. For example, media guidance
application may accomplish this by searching a version of database
500 (FIG. 5) that includes entries representing events, and list
media assets, events, or other content associated with the events
represented by entries.
Process 1200 continues to 1210, where the media guidance
application prevents (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the
identified content from being presented to the user in response to
determining that the identified content includes a spoiler. For
example, the media guidance application may analyze metadata for
the identified content to determine if the identified content
contains a spoiler for the second event. The media guidance
application may then prevent (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG.
9)) the identified content from being presented to the user in
response to determining that it does contain the spoiler. This may
be done any number of ways. For example, the media guidance
application may prevent the identified content from being displayed
to a user, the media guidance application may display alternate
content to the user in the place of the identified content, or any
other suitable method may be used to prevent the identified content
from being displayed. In some embodiments, the media guidance
application may also use one of the techniques for preventing
content from being presented to the user discussed in relation to
FIGS. 1-3 as part of process 1200.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 12 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 12 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed
in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to
reduce lag or increase the speed of the system or method.
Furthermore, it should be noted that any of the devices or
equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 or the
databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used to
perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 12.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart of another set of illustrative steps for
preventing a spoiler from being presented to a user based on an
activity, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
For example, a media guidance application implementing process 1300
may be executed by control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9). It should be
noted that process 1300 or any portion thereof could be performed
on, or be provided by, any of the devices discussed in relation to
FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize any of the databases discussed in
relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should also be noted that process 1300 or
any of the individual procedures discussed in relation to process
1300 may be combined with any of the other processes in this
disclosure, including the processes discussed in relation to FIGS.
11-12 and FIGS. 14-18.
Process 1300 begins at 1302, where the media guidance application
receives (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) data
identifying an activity performed by the user, wherein the activity
is associated with a first event. For example, the media guidance
application may receive data indicating that the user scheduled a
recording for a media asset which is associated with a first event.
For instance, the media guidance application may receive data
indicating that the user scheduled a recording for the live
broadcast of a baseball game between the baseball team "New York
Yankees" and another baseball team "Boston Red Sox" to be played
the following evening. In general, the received data may take any
form, and may correlate to any type of user activity. For example,
the media guidance application may receive data identifying a
social media communication from the user, user attendance of a live
event, user behavior on the Internet, or user interactions with a
set-top box. The received data may also indicate that the user
accessed a media asset, purchased a media asset, ordered a media
asset, purchased a ticket for attending an event, added an
appointment to a calendar, or the like.
Process 1300 continues to 1304, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
based on the received data, a first event associated with the
identified activity performed by the user. In general, the media
guidance application may use the received data to determine a first
event associated with the identified activity any number of ways.
For example, in some embodiments the received data may include a
description of an event associated with the user activity, or an
event identifier for an event associated with the user activity.
For instance, if the user activity was a request to schedule a
recording of an upcoming baseball game, the media guidance
application may receive a description of the baseball game itself
(e.g., the descriptive text "Yankees vs. Red Sox-Game 1 of
Series-7:00 PM EST Thursday, September 15"), or other identifying
information which may be used to look up the event in a database
(e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)). Systems and methods for determining
events associated with received data identifying user activities
are also discussed in relation to FIG. 18, and any of the
embodiments discussed in relation to FIG. 18 may be combined, in
whole or in part, with Process 1300.
In some embodiments the media guidance application may extract text
from the received data, and use the text to search for related
events. For example, if the user activity was posting a message to
an online forum about an upcoming concert, the media guidance
application may extract keywords from the posted message and use
those words to search for matching entries in an event or content
database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4) or database 500 (FIG. 5)) in
order to determine events associated with the user activity. In
this case, if the media guidance application extracted the keywords
"Dolly Parton," "Concert," "Upcoming," and "Jolene," from the
message, these keywords could be used to identify the upcoming live
concert "Dolly Parton Sings!," where the singer "Dolly Parton" is
scheduled to perform her song "Jolene." In some embodiments, this
may be done by searching an events database (e.g., database 400
(FIG. 4)) for event entries having fields containing text that
matches the identified keywords, or using any other convenient
searching algorithm.
Process 1300 continues to 1306, where the media guidance
application searches (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), a
database of event entries to identify an event entry that is
associated with the determined first event. For instance, the media
guidance application may search an events database (e.g., database
400 (FIG. 4)) and identify event entries (e.g., event entries
412-430 (FIG. 4)) that are associated with the determined first
event. The media guidance application may search the database using
any convenient technique. For example, if the media guidance
application received an event identifier or an event name along
with the originally received data, this information may be used to
search through the database directly.
In general, the media guidance application may store and maintain a
database of event entries (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)), or
otherwise have access to a database of event entries, wherein each
of the event entries includes an event information field that
includes a feature that appears in the respective event. This
database may be used by the media guidance application to perform
one or more steps of process 1300. For example, such a database may
contain information for various types of events, such as a movie
presented in a movie theater, a concert, a live event, a media
asset scheduled for transmission, or a calendar appointment. For
each of the events in the database, the media guidance application
may store a list of features for the event, such as a person,
character, or band associated with the event, a general category or
genre for the event, a location and time of the event, or a scene
within the event. Other information may be stored as well, and may
be used to look up events in the database, such as the start time,
end time, duration, and location of the event. Other types of
information may include a list of people participating in the
event, or a list of people who have expressed an interest in the
event (e.g., a list of people who have communicated on social media
about the event, or who have scheduled recordings of the
event).
Process 1300 continues to 1308, where the media guidance
application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
from the event information field associated with the identified
event entry, a feature that appears in the determined first event.
For example, if the first event is a rerun of the premiere of the
television show "The Walking Dead," represented in database 400
(FIG. 4) by the event entry 426, the media guidance application may
retrieve the feature "Zombie Themed" from the event feature
information fields 406 associated with the event entry 426.
Process 1300 continues to 1310, where the media guidance
application searches (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
the event information fields stored in the database to identify a
plurality of event entries that each include an event information
field having a given feature that corresponds to the retrieved
feature. For example, if the media guidance application retrieved
the feature "Zombie Themed" from the database 400 (FIG. 4), the
media guidance application may search for other event entries
412-430 that include event feature information fields 406 that
include the feature "Zombie Themed." In this case, the media
guidance application may retrieve the event entries 422, 424, 428,
and 430, each of which includes event feature information fields
406 that include the feature "Zombie Themed."
Process 1300 continues to 1312, where the media guidance
application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), a
first of the plurality of event entries that is associated with a
second event that matches a user profile. For example, the media
guidance application may use the information contained in the user
profile to determine which of the events associated with the event
entries 422, 424, 428, and 430 is also associated with the user
profile, and would be an event that the user is likely to not want
to be spoiled. For example, the media guidance application may
access a log of content that the user recently accessed from the
user profile, or a log of events that the user was recently
involved with from the user profile. In this case, the media
guidance application may determine if any of the event entries 422,
424, 428, and 430 share similar features to the events or content
contained in the logs within the user profile. Systems and methods
for selecting events associated with a user profile are also
discussed in relation to FIGS. 15-16, and any of the embodiments
discussed in relation to FIGS. 15-16 may be combined, in whole or
in part, with process 1300.
In some embodiments, selecting one of the plurality of event
entries that match a user profile includes the media guidance
application determining (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
a preferred feature based on the user profile. For example, the
media guidance application may access the scheduled recordings of a
user from the user profile of the user, and determine that the user
tends to record programs that often include a particular preferred
feature. For example, if several of the scheduled recordings are
for live programming, the media guidance application may determine
that the feature "Live Event" is a preferred feature for the user.
The media guidance application may then identify, from the
plurality of event entries, a subset of event entries including a
first event information field having the given feature and a second
event information field having the preferred feature. For example,
from the list of event entries 422, 424, 428, and 430 (FIG. 4), the
event entry 428 is also associated with the preferred feature "Live
Event," and may be selected as the event entry that matches the
user profile.
In some embodiments, determining a preferred feature based on the
user profile includes the media guidance application determining
(e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), from the user profile,
a plurality of past activities performed by the user. For example,
the media guidance application may access a purchase history from
the user profile, and use it to determine the recent purchases made
by the user. As an alternate example, the media guidance
application may access a list of television programming recently
consumed by the user, or a list of social media communications made
by the user. The media guidance application may then determine a
plurality of previous events associated with the plurality of past
activities performed by the user, each of the plurality of previous
events being associated with at least one of the plurality of past
activities. For example, if the activities are social media
communication, the media guidance application may determine each of
the events mentioned with the social media communications (e.g., by
using natural language processing or keyword extraction to identify
terms that can be used to search for related events). The media
guidance application may then search the database of event entries
to identify a plurality of event entries associated with the
determined plurality of previous events, and determine a preferred
feature that appears in event entries associated with each of the
plurality of previous events. For example, the media guidance
application may search for each of the events associated with the
social media communications, and determine that the feature "Live
Event" occurs frequently within those events. In this case, the
media guidance application may determine that the user is likely to
enjoy other events associated with the feature "Live Event," and
designate the feature "Live Event" as a preferred feature.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may access the
user profiles for other users that are associated with the user,
and the selected event entry will match one or more of the user
profiles of the other users. For example, if the media guidance
application finds that the original user profile contains a list of
friends for the user, the media guidance application may retrieve
the user profiles for each of those friends. The media guidance
application may then determine if any of the event entries 422,
424, 428, and 430 share similar features to the events or content
that the friends of the user have recently accessed or expressed
interest in. This may be particularly advantageous if the user has
similar interests to the friends, since the media guidance
application may leverage the content of the friends' user profiles
to identify events that the user may not wish to be spoiled. This
may also be advantageous if the user frequently engages in events
with the friends, since the media guidance application may identify
events that the user may not be considering currently, but which
the user may nonetheless engage with in the future.
Process 1300 continues to 1314, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
content associated with the second event. For example, the media
guidance application may use the name of the second event or an
identifier for the second event to search a content database (e.g.,
database 500 (FIG. 5)) for content that is associated with the
second event. For instance, if the second event has the identifier
"RR123" the media guidance application may search database 500
(FIG. 5) and identify the content represented by content entries
514, 518, and 520 (FIG. 5) as being associated with the second
event. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also
access an events database (e.g., similar to database 400 (FIG. 4))
that lists both events, and content that is associated with each of
the listed events. Then, the media guidance application may
identify the associated content by requesting it directly from the
events database. It is understood that the content may be a media
asset, a social media communication, an advertisement, a text or
SMS message, or a commercial. More generally, it is understood that
in some embodiments the systems and methods discussed in this
disclosure may be adapted to work with any suitable type of
content.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application identifies
(e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the content by
monitoring other content being accessed by the user. For example,
if the media guidance application determines that the user is
scrolling through multiple comments on a particular web page, the
media guidance application may search for other comments listed on
the web page that are associated with the second event. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may identify content by
monitoring content likely to be accessed by the user within a
threshold period of time in the future. For example, if the second
event is a concert by the artist "Dolly Parton" being performed
next week, and the user frequently listens to a particular radio
station, the media guidance application may search for programming
on that radio station that is scheduled to be presented within the
next week, and identify any of the programming that is associated
with the upcoming concert by the artist "Dolly Parton."
Process 1300 continues to 1316, where the media guidance
application processes (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
metadata associated with the identified content to determine
whether the metadata indicates that the identified content includes
a spoiler for the second event. For example, the media guidance
application may access a content database (e.g., database 500 (FIG.
5)) that explicitly lists content items, events associated with
each of the content items, and spoiler flags indicating whether or
not the content associated with a given entry in the database
(e.g., content entries 514-520) contains spoilers for the
associated events. In general, these spoiler flags may be generated
by any entity that has access to the database, including content
providers, and other users. For example, in some embodiments
processing the metadata includes the media guidance application
determining (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), based on
the metadata, whether the identified content is associated with a
user-generated flag indicating that the identified content contains
a spoiler for the second event. For instance, other users may mark
certain types of content as containing spoilers for particular
events (e.g., through the use of a media guidance application),
resulting in a "spoiler warning" flag being stored within the
metadata that may be detected by other media guidance applications.
Systems and methods for processing metadata associated with content
to determine if it includes a spoiler for an event are also
discussed in relation to FIG. 17, and any of the embodiments
discussed in relation to FIG. 17 may be combined, in whole or in
part, with process 1300.
Process 1300 continues to 1318, where the media guidance
application prevents (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
the identified content from being presented to the user in response
to determining that the metadata indicates that the identified
content includes the spoiler. The media guidance application may
prevent the content from being presented any number of ways. For
example, the media guidance application may refuse to display the
content, or display alternate content in place of the content. In
some embodiments, this alternate content may include alternate
video, text, or images that the user profile for the user indicates
that the user may enjoy. For example, if the identified content is
a television program, the media guidance application may access the
user profile of the user and determine a list of television
programs that the user has recently watched. The media guidance
application may then select a television program similar to the
ones contained in the user profile as the alternate content to be
presented to the user. As another example, in some embodiments, the
media guidance application may use one of the techniques for
preventing content from being presented to the user discussed in
relation to FIGS. 1-3 as part of process 1300.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine
(e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) whether the user has
previously accessed the identified content, and allow the
identified content to be presented to the user in response to
determining that the metadata indicates that the identified content
includes a spoiler instead of preventing it from being presented.
For example, the media guidance application may access a user
profile for the user, and access the user's history to determine if
the content has been presented to the user in the past. If the
media guidance application determines that identified content has
already been presented to the user in the past, the media guidance
application executing process 1300 may simply present the episode
to the user rather than preventing it from being presented at
1318.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application receiving (e.g.,
via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), from the user, a request to
access the identified content. For example, if the identified
content is an episode of the zombie-themed television show "The
Walking Dead," the media guidance application may receive a request
to tune to that episode of the television show "The Walking Dead."
The media guidance application may then present to the user, in
response to receiving the request, alternate content different from
the identified content. In some embodiments, the alternate content
may be generated by the media guidance application. For example,
the media guidance application may generate a prompt similar to one
of the prompts discussed in relation to FIGS. 1-3. In some
embodiments, the alternate content may include a selectable option,
the selectable option comprising at least one of an option to have
the identified content presented (e.g., similar to selectable
option 204 of display 200 (FIG. 2)), an option to delay
presentation of the identified content to a later time (e.g.,
similar to selectable option 206 of display 200 (FIG. 2)), and an
option to not view the identified content (e.g., similar to options
303-310 of display 300 (FIG. 3)). For example, instead of simply
presenting the requested episode of the television show "The
Walking Dead," the media guidance application may display a prompt
warning the user that the content that he or she requested may
contain spoilers, and asking the user he or she wishes to
proceed.
In some embodiments, presenting the alternate content may include
the media guidance application identifying (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a possible content alternative, the
possible content alternative being a type of content that is the
same as the identified content. For example, if the identified
content was an episode of the zombie-themed television show "The
Walking Dead," the media guidance application may identify other
zombie-themed programming that is currently available as potential
content alternatives. The media guidance application may then
process metadata associated with the possible content alternative
to determine whether metadata associated with the possible content
alternative indicates that the possible content alternative
includes the spoiler for the second event. For example, if the
originally requested episode of the television show "The Walking
Dead" isn't being presented because it contains spoilers for a
newly released movie, the media guidance application may verify
that the alternate content does not contain spoilers for the newly
released movie. The media guidance application then presents the
possible content alternative to the user as the alternate content
in response to determining that the metadata associated with the
possible content alternative indicates that the identified content
does not include a spoiler.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 13 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 13 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed
in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to
reduce lag or increase the speed of the system or method. For
example, a media guidance application may determine events
associated with a identified activity at 1304 by making use of an
events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)), while simultaneously
searching the database for event entries associated with those
events at 1306. This may reduce the total amount of time needed to
perform process 1300. Furthermore, it should be noted that any of
the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10
or the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used
to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 13.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for preventing a
spoiler from being presented to a user based on a purchase
activity, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
For example, a media guidance application implementing process 1400
may be executed by control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9). It should be
noted that process 1400 or any portion thereof could be performed
on, or be provided by, any of the devices discussed in relation to
FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize any of the databases discussed in
relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should also be noted that process 1400 or
any of the individual procedures discussed in relation to process
1400 may be combined with any of the other processes in this
disclosure, including the processes discussed in relation to FIG.
11-13 or FIGS. 15-18.
Process 1400 begins at 1402, where the media guidance application
receives (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) data
representing purchase activity associated with the user, wherein
the data includes a source of the purchase and purchase
information. For example, the media guidance application may
receive data packets (e.g., transmitted via communications network
1014) indicating that a particular item was purchased from the
online retailer "TicketMaster.com".TM., and purchase information
such as the date and time of the purchase, a description of the
purchase, an identifying code for the purchase (e.g., an ISBN,
barcode, serial code, purchase code, or the like), or other
suitable information about the purchase.
Process 1400 continues to 1404, where the media guidance
application receives (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the
purchase information from the data. For example, the media guidance
application may take the received data, and extract the purchase
information from the data. This may include the media guidance
application re-formatting the purchase information into a
standardized format (e.g., the format used by a purchases database
such as database 600 (FIG. 6) or an events database such as
database 400 (FIG. 4)).
Process 1400 continues to 1406, where the media guidance
application searches (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
using the purchase information, an events database (e.g., database
400 (FIG. 4) to identify an event entry (e.g., one of event entries
412-430 (FIG. 4)) having a first event information field (e.g., one
of the associated purchase code information fields 410 (FIG. 4))
that matches the purchase information. For example, the media
guidance application may search database 400 (FIG. 4) for event
entries 412-430 (FIG. 4) that have an associated purchase code
information field 410 (FIG. 4) that matches the purchase code
contained in the purchase information.
Process 1400 continues to 1408, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
whether the events database includes an event entry having a first
event information field that matches the purchase information. For
example, if the purchase information included the purchase code
"X012Y," the media guidance application may search database 400
(FIG. 4) for event entries 412-430 (FIG. 4) that have an associated
purchase code information field 410 (FIG. 4) that matches the
purchase code "X012Y." In response to determining that the events
database includes an event entry having a first event information
field that matches the purchase information, process 1400 continues
to 1410. For example, because event entry 412 (FIG. 4) includes an
information field that matches the purchase code "X012Y," process
1400 would continue to 1410. Alternately, in response to
determining that the events database does not include an event
entry having a first event information field that matches the
purchase information, process 1400 continues to 1412.
At 1410 the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), event information from a second event
information field associated with the event entry. For example, if
the media guidance application previously determined that the event
entry 412 (FIG. 4) includes an information field that matches the
purchase code "X012Y," the media guidance application may retrieve
information from a different information field 402-408 (FIG. 4) of
event entry 412 (FIG. 4). For instance, the media guidance
application may retrieve the name of the event associated with
event entry 412 (FIG. 4) from event name information field 402
(FIG. 4), "Dolly Parton Sings!" Afterwards, process 1400 continues
to 1414.
At 1412 the media guidance application requests (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), the event information from the source of
the purchase in the received data. For example, if the purchase
source indicated in the originally received information was the
online retailer "TicketMaster.com,".TM. the media guidance
application may submit a request to the online retailer
"TicketMaster.com".TM. (e.g., via communications network 1014) to
provide event information for an event associated with the user's
purchase activity. Afterwards, process 1400 continues to 1414.
In some embodiments, requesting (e.g., via communications network
1014), from the source of the purchase, event information
associated with the purchase information includes the media
guidance application identifying (e.g., via control circuitry 904
(FIG. 9)) the source that received the purchase from the user based
on the received data. For example, if the received data includes an
image of a purchase receipt, the media guidance application may
analyze the image (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) using
optical character recognition (OCR) or text extraction techniques,
and identify the source of the purchase based on the extracted
text. For example, if the image of the receipt includes the text
"AMC Theatres," the media guidance application may determine that
the source of the purchase was the movie theater chain "AMC
Theaters." In general, the media guidance application may make this
determination by checking the extracted text against a database of
known retailers (e.g., accessible via communications network 1014).
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract
similar information from barcodes or QR codes contained on images
received as part of the received data.
In some embodiments, after identifying the source that received the
purchase from the user, the media guidance application then
searches (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) for an account
associated with the user for accessing the identified source. For
example, if the identified source is the online retailer
"Amazon.com".TM., the media guidance application may search for the
user's account with the online retailer "Amazon.com".TM.. In this
situation, the media guidance application may, for example, access
previously stored user credentials for the account, or prompt the
user to provide information about his or her account, such as his
or her username. The media guidance application then transmits a
request to the source, based on the determined account, for the
event information associated with the purchase. For example, the
media guidance application may submit a request to the online
retailer "Amazon.com".TM. (e.g., by using an API to submit a
request over communications network 1014) for additional
information regarding the user's purchase, and include the user's
identifying information (e.g., a username) in the request.
In some embodiments, the transmitted request may include user
credentials, the user credentials being usable by the source to
verify that the request was approved by the user. For example, the
user credentials may include a user password, a pin code, an audio
recording of a passphrase spoken by the user, and image of the user
to be used as part of a facial recognition algorithm, biometric
data such as a thumbprint, or any other type of convenient
authentication. The user may either obtain these credentials
automatically, (e.g. by using a microphone or camera attached to
the user device running the media guidance application), or the
media guidance application may prompt the user to provide the
credentials. As another example, the online retailer may require
that the request be made from an authenticated user device. In this
case, the media guidance application may access (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the appropriate authentication key stored
within the user device and provide it along with the request, or
the purchase source may recognize the device based on a device
identifier, such as a media access control (MAC) address.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application receives (e.g.,
via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the event information requested
from the source of the purchase in the data. For example, if the
media guidance application requested event information for events
associated with the user's recent purchase from the online retailer
"TicketMaster.com,".TM. the media guidance application may receive
event information for an event associated with the user's purchase
activity back from the online retailer "TicketMaster.com".TM.
(e.g., via communications network 1014). In general, this event
information may be of any type, and include an event identifier,
the time and title of the event, or any other type of suitable
information about the event. The media guidance application then
submits (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), to the events
database, a request to create a new event entry having a third
event information field that matches the purchase information
included in the received data, and a fourth event information field
that matches the event information received. For example, if the
media guidance application receives information from the purchase
source indicating that the event entitled "Dolly Parton Sings!" is
associated with the original purchase information, the media
guidance application may cause a new event entry to be created in
an events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)) containing
information fields for the name of the event "Dolly Parton Sings!"
and the purchase information originally received by the media
guidance application.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application stores (e.g.,
via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), in a purchase activities
database, purchase activities associated with the user, wherein the
purchase activities database includes a plurality of purchase
activity entries, and each purchase activity entry includes a
purchase source field and an event information field. For example,
the media guidance application may maintain a purchase activities
database similar to database 600 (FIG. 6). In this case, the
database 600 may include several purchase entries 612-616
associated with the user, and each of the purchase entries 612-616
may include an information field for the purchase source 604, an
event information field (e.g., event ID field 608), and other
information fields for storing various types of other purchase
information. The media guidance application then adds (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) to the purchase activities database
a new purchase activity entry for the received purchase activity
associated with the user based on the event information associated
with the purchase information.
Process 1400 continues to 1414, where the media guidance
application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
based on the event information, an event associated with the
purchase activity. In general, the selected event may be a movie
presented in a movie theater, a concert, a live event, a media
asset scheduled for transmission, a calendar appointment, or any
other suitable type of event. Depending on the type of the event,
the media guidance application may query any type of appropriate
database with the event information. For example, in some
embodiments, selecting an event associated with the purchase
activity includes the media guidance application identifying (e.g.,
via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), using the events database
(e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4), an event associated with the event
information. For instance, if the event information is the event ID
"AA123," the media guidance application may use the event
information to search for entries in an events database (e.g.,
database 400 (FIG. 4), for events with corresponding event entries
412-430 (FIG. 4) that include information fields 402-410 (FIG. 4)
that match the event ID "AA123." In this case, the media guidance
application would select the event entitled "Dolly Parton Sings!"
represented by event entry 412 as the event associated with the
purchase activity. The media guidance application then determines,
using the events database, a plurality of related events associated
with the identified event. For example, the media guidance
application may look up related events (e.g., via control circuitry
904 (FIG. 9)) in database 400 by requesting information from the
associated event information fields 408 for event entry 412. In
this case, the media guidance application may obtain the event ID
"BB234" corresponding to the concert event entitled "Jack White
Croons!" represented by event entry 414, and the scheduled
broadcast event of the film "9 to 5" represented by event entry
416. The media guidance application then selects (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), as the event associated with the purchase
activity, one of the plurality of related events. For example, the
media guidance application may select the scheduled broadcast of
the film "9 to 5" as the event associated with the user's purchase
activity.
Process 1400 continues to 1416, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
content associated with the selected event. For example, the media
guidance application may accomplish this by searching a version of
database 400 (FIG. 4) that includes information fields in each of
the event entries 412-430 listing content associated with the
selected event. As another example, the media guidance application
may search a content database (e.g., similar to database 500),
where each of the entries lists the events associated with each
content item.
In some embodiments, identifying the content includes the media
guidance application monitoring (e.g., via control circuitry 904
(FIG. 9)) other content being accessed by the user, and searching
for a plurality of content likely to be accessed by the user within
a threshold period of time in the future. For example, if the media
guidance application determines that the user is currently watching
a movie stored on his or her DVR that will end in the next 20
minutes, the media guidance application may anticipate that at the
end of the movie the user will be brought back to whatever live
programming he or she was previously watching on their television.
In this case, the media guidance application may search for content
being broadcast in the next 20 minutes that is associated with the
previously selected event. This may allow the media guidance
application to prioritize checking for content that the user is
likely to access in the near future. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may always check whatever content the user is
about to access (e.g., whatever is being broadcast on the channel
that the user will be brought to when he or she stops watching a
movie from the DVR, or VOD programming) in order to determine if it
is related to the selected event prior to presenting the
content.
Process 1400 continues to 1418, where the media guidance
application processes (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
metadata associated with the identified content to determine
whether the metadata indicates that the identified content includes
a spoiler for the selected event. For example, if the media
guidance application determines that certain content is associated
with a selected event, the media guidance application may search a
content database (e.g., database 500) and search for content
metadata. The media guidance application may then use the content
metadata to determine if the content contains a spoiler for the
selected event. For example, the media guidance application may
search a content database (e.g., database 500 (FIG. 5)) for
metadata indicating whether or not the content contains spoilers
for the selected event. For instance, this may be done by accessing
the spoiler flag fields 512 for the content entry 514-520
representing the content, and determine whether or not the spoiler
flag information fields indicate that the content contains a
spoiler for the selected event. Other techniques for processing
metadata and determining whether metadata indicates that identified
content contains spoilers, which may be used in conjunction with
some embodiments of process 1100, are discussed in relation to FIG.
17.
Process 1400 continues to 1420, where the media guidance
application prevents (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the
identified content from being presented to the user in response to
determining that the metadata indicates that the identified content
includes the spoiler. For example, if the media guidance
application determines that a particular website contains a spoiler
that should not be presented to the user, the media guidance
application may prevent the user from accessing the website.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application receiving (e.g.,
via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), from the user, a request to
access the identified content. For example, if the identified
content is a talk show currently airing on a particular channel,
the media guidance application may have received (e.g., via user
input interface 910 (FIG. 9)) a request to tune to the channel
airing the talk show. The media guidance application then presents,
to the user, in response to receiving the request, alternate
content different from the identified content. For example, the
media guidance application may tune to a different channel where a
different talk show is being broadcast. In this case, the media
guidance application may cause a prompt to be displayed to the user
(e.g., prompt 104, display 200, or display 300) informing the user
that the media guidance application determined that the originally
requested show contains spoilers for an event that the media
guidance application believes the user may not wish to be spoiled.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also use
one of the techniques for preventing content from being presented
to the user discussed in relation to FIGS. 1-3 as part of process
1400.
In some embodiments, preventing the identified content from being
presented includes the media guidance application (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) determining an end time for the
event associated with the purchase activity. For example, if the
premiere of the movie "Evil Dead!" is the event that the media
guidance application determined to be associated with the user's
purchase activity, the media guidance application may use an events
database (e.g., database 400) to look up an end time for the
premiere of the movie "Evil Dead!". The media guidance application
then prevents the identified content from being presented in
response to determining that the current time is earlier than the
end time. For example, if the identified content is a DVR recording
of a talk show where the lead actor from the movie "Evil Dead!" is
an invited guest, the media guidance application may prevent the
user from accessing that DVR recording until after the premiere of
the movie "Evil Dead!" has ended.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 14 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 14 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, the media guidance application may
request event information from the source of the purchase at 1412
while simultaneously searching an events database to identify event
entries having a first event information field that matches the
purchase information at 1406. This may allow process 1400 to make a
more comprehensive search for all of the events potentially
associated with the purchase activity, making use of multiple
sources (e.g., both the events database, and the source of the
purchase). Furthermore, it should be noted that any of the devices
or equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 or the
databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used to
perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 14.
FIG. 15 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for selecting events
associated with a user profile, in accordance with some embodiments
of the disclosure. For example, a media guidance application
implementing process 1500 may be executed by control circuitry 904
(FIG. 9). It should be noted that process 1500 or any portion
thereof could be performed on, or be provided by, any of the
devices discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize any
of the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should also
be noted that process 1500 or any of the individual procedures
discussed in relation to process 1500 may be combined with any of
the other processes in this disclosure, including the processes
discussed in relation to FIG. 11-14 or FIGS. 16-18.
Process 1500 begins at 1502, where the media guidance application
receives (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a list of event
entries from a database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4) or database
500 (FIG. 5)). For example, the media guidance application may
receive a list of event entries 412-430 from database 400
representing events that include a particular feature. In general,
the list of event entries may be retrieved from the database by the
media guidance application as part of another process or procedure
(e.g., as part of process 1300 at 1308 (FIG. 13), or process 1200
at 1206 (FIG. 12)).
Process 1500 continues to 1504, where the media guidance
application accesses (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a
user profile. For example, the media guidance application may
access a user profile stored locally (e.g., as part of storage 908
(FIG. 9)), or stored remotely (e.g., on media guidance data source
1018 accessible through communications network 1014 (FIG. 10)). In
general, the user profile may contain a user activity log, a user
purchase history, a log of recently accessed content, demographic
information about the user, or the like. Furthermore, the media
guidance application may use any of the information contained in
the user profile in order to identify events that are associated
with the user profile.
Process 1500 continues to 1506, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
preferred event features from the user profile. For example, the
media guidance application may use the information contained in the
user profile, such as a log of recently accessed content by the
user, and determine preferred features that are included in events
that the user is likely to engage with. For example, if the media
guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904
(FIG. 9)) that the user has recently accessed a number of horror
movies from an OTT content provider, the media guidance application
may determine that the feature "Genre: Honor" is a preferred
feature for the user, and that the user is likely to engage with
events that include the feature "Genre: Honor." Methods for
determining preferred event features are also discussed in relation
to FIG. 16.
Process 1500 continues to 1508, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)),
from the list of event entries, a subset of event entries that
includes the preferred event features. For example, if the media
guidance application determined, based on the user profile, that
the feature "Genre: Honor" is a preferred feature, the media
guidance application may search for a subset of event entries that
includes the feature "Genre: Horror" as one of the information
fields within the entry. For instance, if the original list of
event entries received by the media guidance application was event
entries 412-430 from database 400 (FIG. 4), the media guidance
application may search for which of the event entries 412-430
includes an event feature information field 406 that includes the
feature "Genre: Honor." In this case, the media guidance
application may select event entries 422, 426, 428, and 430 as the
subset of event entries.
Process 1500 continues to 1510, where the media guidance
application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) one
of the subset of event entries to avoid spoiling. For example, from
the subset of event entries 422, 426, 428, and 430, the media
guidance application may select event entry 422, representing the
scheduled broadcast of a television show entitled "The Walking Dead
Season Premiere," as the event to avoid spoiling. In general, the
media guidance application may select one of the subset of event
entries at random, or according to one or more algorithms. For
example, in some embodiments, the media guidance application may
find additional preferred features based on the user profile, and
select the event entry that matches the largest number of preferred
features.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 15 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 15 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, the media guidance application may
access a user profile at 1504 and begin determining preferred event
features from the user profile at 1506 prior to receiving the list
of event entries from a database at 1502. This may allow process
1500 to operate more efficiently, and may increase the overall
speed of process 1500. Furthermore, it should be noted that any of
the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10
or the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used
to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 15.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for identifying
preferred event features using a user profile, in accordance with
some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, a media guidance
application implementing process 1600 may be executed by control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9). It should be noted that process 1600 or any
portion thereof could be performed on, or be provided by, any of
the devices discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize
any of the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should
also be noted that process 1400 or any of the individual procedures
discussed in relation to process 1400 may be combined with any of
the other processes in this disclosure, including the processes
discussed in relation to FIGS. 11-15 or FIGS. 17-18.
Process 1600 begins at 1602, where the media guidance application
accesses (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a user profile
for the user. For example, similar to process 1500 at 1502, the
media guidance application may access a user profile stored locally
(e.g., as part of storage 908 (FIG. 9)), or stored remotely (e.g.,
on media guidance data source 1018 accessible through
communications network 1014 (FIG. 10)). In some embodiments, the
media guidance application may also request the user profile from
an external source (e.g., via communications network 1014 from
media guidance data source 1018 (FIG. 10)).
Process 1600 continues to 1604, where the media guidance
application accesses (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a
listing of past user activities within the user profile. In
general, the user profile may contain a user activity log, a user
purchase history, a log of recently accessed content, demographic
information about the user, or the like. The media guidance
application may access any portion of the user profile in order to
obtain a listing of past user activities. For example, the media
guidance application may access a user purchase history from the
user profile, which lists information about various purchases made
by the user in the past (e.g., similar to the purchase entries
612-616 contained in database 600 (FIG. 6)).
Process 1600 continues to 1606, where the media guidance
application identifies (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
past events associated with past user activities. For example, if
the media guidance application retrieved a list of past purchases
made by the user, the media guidance application may look up events
associated with each of those past purchases in a purchases
database (e.g., database 600). For instance, if the user profile
indicated that the user previously made a purchase associated with
purchase code "SCI76," the media guidance application may search
database 600 for purchase entries 612-616 with a purchase code
field 602 that matches the purchase code "SCI76." In this case, the
media guidance application might identify purchase entry 614,
representing a purchase of the live event ticket "General Admission
for Evil Dead with Walking Dead Sneak Peek" from the online ticket
retailer "Fandango.com.".TM. The media guidance application may
then access the associated event fields 606 for purchase entry 614
in order to identify the past events associated with the user
activity. In this case, the media guidance application may identify
the event entitled "Evil Dead!" associated with event identifier
JJ234, the event entitled "See Evil Dead with Tom" associated with
event identifier KK456, and the event entitled "The Walking Dead
Season Premiere" associated with event identifier FF789.
Process 1600 continues to 1608, where, for each of the past events,
the media guidance application accesses (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) an events database (e.g., database 400
(FIG. 4), and identifies features of the events. For example, given
the list of past events that includes the event entitled "Evil
Dead!" associated with event identifier JJ234, the event entitled
"See Evil Dead with Tom" associated with event identifier KK456,
and the event entitled "The Walking Dead Season Premiere"
associated with event identifier FF789, the media guidance
application may search the database 400 and determine that these
events are associated with event entries 428, 430, and 422,
respectively. In this case, the media guidance application may
identify the features of these events by requesting, from database
400, the features listed in the event feature information fields
406 associated with each of the respective event entries. For
example, the media guidance application may request the event
feature information fields associated with event entry 422, and
receive a list of event features including the features "Scheduled
Broadcast," "Genre: Horror," and "Zombie Themed."
Process 1600 continues to 1610, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
how frequently the identified features appear across all of the
past events. For example, given the past events represented by
event entries 428, 430, and 422, the media guidance application may
determine that the feature "Scheduled Broadcast" appears in one
event, the feature "Live Event" appears in one event, the feature
"Calendar Appointment for Live Event" appears in one event, the
feature "Midnight Movie" appears in two events, the feature "Genre:
Horror" appears in all three events, and the feature "Zombie
Themed" appears in all three events. It is understood that the
media guidance application may determine this information any
number of ways. For example, the media guidance application may
check each of the event entries 428, 430, and 422 in series, and
keep a running tally of the number of times each feature appears
inside of a table within local memory (e.g., storage 908).
Process 1600 continues to 1612, where the media guidance
application saves (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the
most frequently occurring features as a list of preferred features.
For example, in the example above, the media guidance application
may save the features "Genre: Horror" and "Zombie Themed" as the
list of preferred features, because they were the most frequently
occurring features that appeared across all of the past events. The
list of preferred features, or any of the features on the list of
preferred features, may then be used by the media guidance
application in order to identify content or events associated with
the user profile (e.g., as part of process 1500 (FIG. 15), process
1300 (FIG. 13), or process 1200 (FIG. 12)).
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 16 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 16 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, if the listing of past user
activities includes a list of events as well as features of the
events, there may be no need to access an events database in order
to identify the features of the events at 1608. Alternately, it may
be possible to perform the subroutines at 1606 and 1608 in
parallel, by looking up each of the past events in the events
database while simultaneously searching for additional past events
associated with the past user activities. This may allow process
1600 to operate more efficiently, and may increase the overall
speed of process 1600. Furthermore, it should be noted that any of
the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10
or the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used
to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 16.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for processing
metadata associated with content to determine if it includes a
spoiler for an event, in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure. For example, a media guidance application implementing
process 1700 may be executed by control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9). It
should be noted that process 1700 or any portion thereof could be
performed on, or be provided by, any of the devices discussed in
relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize any of the databases
discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should also be noted that
process 1700 or any of the individual procedures discussed in
relation to process 1700 may be combined with any of the other
processes in this disclosure, including the processes discussed in
relation to FIGS. 11-16 or FIG. 18.
Process 1700 begins at 1702, where the media guidance application
retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) metadata
associated with identified content. The media guidance application
may retrieve metadata from a local storage device (e.g., storage
908 (FIG. 9)), from a remote location (e.g., from media guidance
data source 1018 via communications network 1014 (FIG. 10)), or
from any other convenient location. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may retrieve the metadata associated with the
identified content from a content database (e.g., database 500
(FIG. 5)). For example, the media guidance application may request
(e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) metadata associated with
the television program entitled "The Walking Dead Recap Show" from
database 500, and receive the information contained in content
entry 516 in response. In general, the media guidance application
may identify the content to database 500 by transmitting
identifying information for the content, such as a content
identifier, content keywords, or the content name. For illustrative
purposes, the retrieved metadata may be described in a manner
similar to the content entries 514-520 in database 500 (FIG. 5),
but it is understood that the metadata may be retrieved in any
format, and that the media guidance application may be easily
adapted to make similar determinations to the ones discussed in
relation to FIG. 17 regardless of the format of the metadata.
Process 1700 continues to 1704, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
whether the content is explicitly associated with the event. For
example, if the event was a scheduled broadcast of the television
show entitled "The Walking Dead Season Premiere" represented by
event ID "FF789," the media guidance application may check the
associated content fields 510 of the content entry 516 to see if
they contained the event ID "FF789." In response to determining
that the content is explicitly associated with the event, process
1700 continues to 1706. For example, if the media guidance
application determines that content entry 516 does include an
associated content information field that matches the event ID
"FF789," and that the content represented by content entry 516 is
therefore associated with the event, process 1700 will continue to
1706. In response to determining that the content is not explicitly
associated with the event, process 1700 continues to 1708. For
example, if there were no associated content information fields in
content entry 516, or if the metadata otherwise provides no
indication to the media guidance application that the content and
the event are associated together, then process 1700 continues
directly to 1704.
At 1706 the media guidance application determines (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) whether there is an explicit
spoiler flag for the event. For example, if the metadata is
formatted similar to the information contained in content entry 516
of database 500 (FIG. 5), the media guidance application may make
the determination by checking the value of the spoiler flag
information field 512 associated with the event within content
entry 516. In this case, if the media guidance application
previously determined that the event was a scheduled broadcast of
the television show entitled "The Walking Dead Season Premiere"
represented by event identifier "FF789," the media guidance
application may determine that the information contained in the
spoiler flag information field 512 of content entry 516 indicates
that, "Yes," the identified content does contain a spoiler for the
event. In response to determining that there is an explicit spoiler
flag for the event, process 1700 proceeds to 1720. For example, if
the media guidance application determined that, "Yes," the
identified content does contain a spoiler for the event, process
1700 proceeds to 1720, where the media guidance application flags
the identified content as containing a potential spoiler for the
event. In response to determining that there is not an explicit
spoiler flag for the event, process 1700 proceeds to 1708. For
example, if there was no spoiler flag for the event in content
entry 516, or if the metadata otherwise provides no indication to
the media guidance application that there is a spoiler flag for the
event, then process 1700 continues to 1708.
At 1708 the media guidance application determines (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) whether the metadata includes text
describing the content. For example, if the metadata is stored in a
format similar to the content entries 514-520 of database 500 (FIG.
5), the media guidance application may determine whether or not
there are keyword fields 506 or description fields 508 for the
content entry 514-520 associated with the content. In general, the
media guidance application may search for any suitable form of text
in the metadata describing with the content. For example, if the
content includes audio or video, the media guidance application may
determine whether there is a set of subtitles included in the
metadata, or a transcript of the audio content included in the
metadata. In response to determining that the metadata includes
text describing the content, process 1700 proceeds to 1710.
Alternately, in response to determining that the metadata does not
include text describing the content, process 1700 proceeds to 1712.
For example, if there were no keyword fields 506 or description
fields 508 for the content entry 514-520 associated with the
content, or if the metadata otherwise provides no indication to the
media guidance application that there is text describing the
content, process 1700 continues to 1708.
At 1710 the media guidance application determines (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) whether a keyword search on the
text indicates that the content includes spoilers for the event.
For example, the media guidance application may search for certain
keywords such as "surprise," "reveal," or "spoiler" in order to
determine if the content contains spoilers. For instance, if the
text comes from keyword field 506 of content entry 516 of database
500 (FIG. 5), the media guidance application may determine that the
text included the keyword "spoilers," and that the content is
therefore likely to contain spoilers. In general, the keywords
being used by the media guidance application to perform the keyword
search may include character names, actor names, band names, song
titles, quotes from the content, or any other suitable type of
keywords. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may
select (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) one or more
keywords to use in the keyword search based on the event. For
example, if the event is a screening film "Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince," where one lead character kills another lead
character, the media guidance application may select the names of
the two lead characters as the keywords, along with the words
"kill," "death," "twist," and "murder." As another example, if the
event is the concert "Dolly Parton Sings!" featuring the artist
"Dolly Parton," than any of the song titles or album titles from
the complete discography of the artist "Dolly Parton" may be chosen
as the keywords. In some embodiments, the media guidance
application may also retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 904
(FIG. 9)) the list of keywords to be used in the keyword search.
For example, an external database may be maintained by content
providers, content creators, other users, or any other interested
party, storing keywords that may be used to identify the spoilers
for particular events. In this case, the media guidance application
may access the database (e.g., via communications network 1014
(FIG. 10)) and retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
the list of keywords to be used in the keyword search. As an
alternate example, a list of keywords that may indicate the
presence of spoilers for particular events may be stored as part of
an events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)). In response to
determining that the content includes spoilers for the event,
process 1700 proceeds to 1720. For example, if the media guidance
application searches through the text describing the content and
determines that the text includes one or more keywords that
indicate the potential presence of spoilers for the event, process
1700 proceeds to 1720 where the media guidance application will
flag the identified content as potentially containing spoilers for
the event. Alternately, in response to determining that the content
does not include spoilers for the event, process 1700 proceeds to
1712. For example, if the media guidance application determines
that the text associated with the content does not include any of
the keywords used in the search, or otherwise does not indicate to
the media guidance application that the content contains spoilers,
process 1700 will proceed to 1712.
At 1712 the media guidance application determines (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) whether the metadata is associated
with external data files. For example, the media guidance
application may determine if the metadata includes a uniform
resource locator (URL) linking to an external data file associated
with the content. This may, for example, include links to
transcripts of audio content, images from the content, written
excerpts from the content, commentary on the content, or any other
suitable type of file. In response to determining that the metadata
is associated with external data files, process 1700 proceeds to
1714. For example, if the metadata indicates to the media guidance
application that a summary of the content is available on a
particular website, process 1700 proceeds to 1714 where the media
guidance application may retrieve the summary from the website.
Alternately, in response to determining that the metadata is not
associated with external data files, process 1700 proceeds to
1718.
At 1714 the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the external data files. For example, if
the metadata indicated that the external data file was available at
a particular website (e.g., as indicated by a URL), the media
guidance application may download the external data file. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may access only a
portion of the data file, and not retrieve the full external data
file. For example, if the external data file is a large content
database (e.g., database 500 (FIG. 5)), only a portion of which is
related to the content, the media guidance application may simply
query to the database for the relevant information related to the
content rather than retrieving the entire database.
Process 1700 proceeds to 1716, where the media guidance application
determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) whether the
external data files indicate spoilers for the event. For example,
if the external data file includes additional text describing the
content (e.g., a summary of the content posted onto a website or
online blog), the media guidance application may analyze the text
using a keyword search similar to the search discussed in relation
to sub-process 1710. In general, the media guidance application may
use any suitable method to determine if the external data file
indicates that the content contains spoilers for the event, which
may include adapting any of the techniques discussed in relation to
FIG. 17, FIG. 18, or any other portion of this disclosure. For
example, the process 1800 (FIG. 18) discusses several methods for
extracting text form data, any one of which may be used in
conjunction with the keyword searching discussed in relation to
sub-process 1710. In response to determining that the external data
files indicate spoilers for the event, process 1700 proceeds to
1720. For example, if the media guidance application determines
that a downloaded summary of the content includes multiple keywords
that indicate that the content contains spoilers for the event,
process 1700 proceeds to 1720 where the media guidance application
flags the content as potentially containing spoilers for the event.
Alternately, in response to determining that the external data
files do not indicate spoilers for the event, process 1700 proceeds
to 1718.
At 1718 the media guidance application flags (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the identified content as not containing a
potential spoiler for the event. For example, media guidance
application may update a content database (e.g., database 500 (FIG.
5)) to indicate that the content contains potential spoilers for
the event. For instance, the media guidance application may do this
by updating (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the content
entry 514-520 associated with the content in database 500 (FIG. 5)
to include the appropriate information in the associated content
fields 510 and include "Yes" in spoiler information fields 512, if
they do not exist already. In general, if process 1700 is being
used as a subroutine to determine whether or not metadata indicates
that the content includes spoilers for a particular event (e.g., as
part of process 1100 (FIG. 11), process 1200 (FIG. 12), process
1300 (FIG. 13), or process 1400 (FIG. 14)), the subroutine will
simply return a Boolean "true" value indicating that the content
does include spoilers, and the media guidance application will
proceed to take the appropriate steps to prevent the content from
being presented to a user.
At 1720 the media guidance application flags (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the identified content as containing a
potential spoiler for the event. For example, media guidance
application may update a content database (e.g., database 500 (FIG.
5)) to indicate that the content does not contain spoilers for the
event. For instance, the media guidance application may do this by
updating (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the content
entry 514-520 associated with the content in database 500 (FIG. 5)
to include the appropriate information in the associated content
fields 510 and include "No" in the spoiler information fields 512,
if they do not exist already. In general, if process 1700 is being
used as a subroutine to determine whether or not metadata indicates
that the content includes spoilers for a particular event (e.g., as
part of process 1100 (FIG. 11), process 1200 (FIG. 12), process
1300 (FIG. 13), or process 1400 (FIG. 14)), the subroutine will
simply return a Boolean "false" value indicating that the content
does not include spoilers, and the media guidance application does
not need to prevent the content from being presented to a user.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 17 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 17 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, the media guidance application may
perform the subroutines at 1704, 1708, and 1712 in parallel,
simultaneously checking if the content is explicitly associated
with the event, checking whether the metadata includes text
describing the content, and checking whether the metadata is
associated with external data files. This may significantly reduce
lag or increase the speed with which process 1700 may be performed.
Furthermore, it should be noted that any of the devices or
equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 or the
databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used to
perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 17.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining events
associated with an activity, in accordance with some embodiments of
the disclosure. For example, a media guidance application
implementing process 1800 may be executed by control circuitry 904
(FIG. 9). It should be noted that process 1800 or any portion
thereof could be performed on, or be provided by, any of the
devices discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, and utilize any
of the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6. It should also
be noted that process 1800 or any of the individual procedures
discussed in relation to process 1800 may be combined with any of
the other processes in this disclosure, including the processes
discussed in relation to FIG. 11-17.
Process 1800 begins at 1802, where the media guidance application
received (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) data
identifying an activity performed by the user. For example, the
media guidance application may receive data representing a purchase
activity performed by the user (e.g., as part of process 1100 (FIG.
11) or process 1400 (FIG. 14)), or any of the types of data
discussed in relation to FIG. 12 or 13. For example, the media
guidance application may receive data indicating that the user
accessed a television show or scheduled a recording for a media
asset, data indicating that the user communicated text or images on
social media, or any type of suitable data indicating a user
activity.
Process 1800 continues to 1804, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
whether the received data contains an event identifier. For
example, if the media guidance application received data indicating
a user purchase, the received data may include a list of events
associated with the user purchase. Similarly, if the received data
included an indication that the user requested to record a
particular program, the received data may include a list of events
associated with that record request. For instance, if the received
data indicated that the user requested to record a future
broadcast, the particular broadcast that the user requested to
record may be indicated to the media guidance application by means
of an event identifier associated with that broadcast. In response
to determining that the received data contains an event identifier,
process 1800 proceeds to 1806 and 1808. Alternately, in response to
determining that the received data does not contain an event
identifier, process 1800 continues directly to 1808.
At 1806, the media guidance application uses the event identifier
to look up (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) associated
events using an events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4)). For
example, if the media guidance application determined that the
received data includes the event ID "BB234," the media guidance
application may search the event entries 412-414 for information
fields matching the event ID "BB234," and determine that the
identifier is associated with the event entitled "Jack White
Croons!" represented by event entry 414. Process 1800 then proceeds
to 1826, where the associated events identified using the various
different methods are aggregated together. For example, the media
guidance application may include the event entitled "Jack White
Croons!" in the aggregated list of events created at 1826.
In some embodiments, if the media guidance application determines
that there is a first event associated with the event identifier,
the media guidance application may search for additional other
events associated with that first event, and include those invents
in the aggregated list. For example, the media guidance application
may search the associated event information fields 408 for the
event entry 414, and determine that the event entitled "Jack White
Croons!" is also associated with the event entitled "Dolly Parton
Sings!" represented by the event identifier "AA123." In this case,
the media guidance application may then include the event entitled
"Dolly Parton Sings!" in the aggregated list of events created at
1826.
Process 1800 continues to 1808, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
whether the received data includes associated audio. For example,
the data received by the media guidance application may include a
recording of the user describing the event, or the received data
may include audio from some of the content being presented as part
of the event. In response to determining that the received data
includes associated audio, process 1800 proceeds to 1810, 1812, and
1814. Alternately, in response to determining that the received
data does not include associated audio, process 1800 continues
directly to 1814.
At 1810, the media guidance application uses the associated audio
to look up (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) associated
events in an events database using audio fingerprinting. For
example, if the received audio was an excerpt from the song
"Jolene" by the artist "Dolly Parton," the media guidance
application may submit that audio sample to an audio fingerprinting
service, and receive a list of events associated with the audio. In
some embodiments, the media guidance application may only receive
data identifying the song and the artist who performs the song. In
this case, the media guidance application may then use this data to
search an events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4) and identify
events associated with the original audio. For example, the media
guidance application may search database 400 for event entries
412-430 that include information fields that include the name of
the artist "Dolly Parton." The media guidance application may
identify the event entitled "Dolly Parton Sings!" represented by
event entry 412 as being associated with the audio. Process 1800
then proceeds to 1826, where the associated events identified using
the various different methods are aggregated together. For example,
if the media guidance application determined that the event
entitled "Dolly Parton Sings!" is associated with the audio in the
received data, the media guidance application may include the event
entitled "Dolly Parton Sings!" in the aggregated list of events
created at 1826.
At 1812, the media guidance application converts (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) the associated audio to text using speech
recognition. In general, the media guidance application may use any
suitable type of speech recognition technique to convert the
received audio into text. This may include processing the received
audio locally (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) on the
same device running the media guidance application, or transmitting
the received audio to an external service (e.g., via communications
circuitry 1010 (FIG. 10)) to be converted. Process 1800 then
proceeds from 1812 to 1816, where the media guidance application
processes the received text to determine if there are events
associated with the originally received audio. For example, if the
media guidance application received audio containing a user's
description of the event, and converted the audio to the text "I'm
about to watch Owens cream the Yankees," this text may be used to
search for associated events at 1816.
Process 1800 continues to 1814, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
whether the received data includes associated text. For example,
the data received by the media guidance application may include the
text of a social media communication made by the user describing
the user's activities. As an alternate example, the received data
may include a description of the activity performed by the user
(e.g., a description of a purchase made by a user, or the name of a
program that a user scheduled to record). In response to
determining that the received data includes associated text,
process 1800 proceeds to 1816 and 1818. For instance, if the
received data includes a user's message posted to a social media
platform, the media guidance application may use the text of the
message, "excited about the game tonight," to search for associated
events at 1816. Alternately, in response to determining that the
received data does not include associated text, process 1800
continues directly to 1818.
At 1816, the media guidance application uses the text from 1812,
1814, and 1820, to look up (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG.
9)) associated events in an events database. For example, if the
original activity performed by the user was posting a short video
to a social media platform along with an accompanying caption, the
media guidance application may have received a transcribed copy of
the audio in the video from 1812, the text of accompanying caption
from 1814, and text extracted from the video from 1820. To look up
events in the events database (e.g., database 400), the media
guidance application may extract keywords from the text, and using
those keywords to search associated events. For instance, if the
media guidance application received the text "I'm about to watch
Owens cream the Yankees," "excited about the game tonight," and
"Fenway park," the media guidance application may extract the
keywords "Owens" "Yankees" "Fenway" "Game" and "Tonight" and use
those keywords to search for event entries 412-430 with matching
information fields 402-410 in database 400 (FIG. 4). In this case,
the media guidance application may determine that the text
partially matches information fields for the event entitled
"Yankees vs. Red Sox" represented by event entry 418, and the event
entitled "Yankees vs. Rex Sox on ESPN" represented by event entry
420. Process 1800 then proceeds to 1826, where the associated
events identified using the various different methods are
aggregated. For instance, in the example above, the media guidance
application may include the event entitled "Yankees vs. Red Sox"
represented by event entry 418, and the event entitled "Yankees vs.
Rex Sox on ESPN" represented by event entry 420 in the aggregated
list.
Process 1800 continues to 1818, where the media guidance
application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
whether the received data includes associated video or images. For
example, the data received by the media guidance application may
include a photograph or short video recorded by the user. In
response to determining that the received data includes associated
video or images, process 1800 proceeds to 1820, 1822, and 1824. For
example, if the media guidance application detects that the
received data includes a short video recorded by the user, the
media guidance application may process the video at 1820 and 1822
to search for related events. In response to determining that the
received data does not include associated video or images, process
1800 continues directly to 1824.
At 1820 the media guidance application performs text extraction
(e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) on the video or image.
In general, the media guidance application may use any suitable
type of using optical character recognition or text extraction
techniques, and may either process the data locally (e.g., via
control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)), or transmit the data to an
external service (e.g., via communications circuitry 1010 (FIG.
10)) to be processed. Process 1800 then proceeds to 1816 (discussed
above), where the extracted text used by the media guidance
application to look up associated events in an events database. For
example, if the received data included an image of the user outside
of the venue where the event was hosted, the media guidance
application may extract the text "Fenway park" from the image, and
use this text to assist in identifying associated events.
At 1822 the media guidance application looks up (e.g., via control
circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) associated events in an events database
using image or video fingerprinting. For example, if received data
includes a video clip for a theatrical trailer of the movie "Evil
Dead!," the media guidance application may submit that video clip,
or an image taken from the video clip, to an video or image
fingerprinting service, and receive a list of events associated
with the video. In some embodiments, the media guidance application
may only receive data identifying the video. In this case, the
media guidance application may then use this data to search an
events database (e.g., database 400 (FIG. 4) and identify events
associated with the original image or video. For example, if the
media guidance application receives information indicating that the
video was a portion of a theatrical trailer for the movie "Evil
Dead!," the media guidance application may search database 400 for
event entries 412-430 that include information fields that include
the name of the movie "Evil Dead." In this case, the media guidance
application may identify event entries 428 and 430 that include
information fields that contain the text "Evil Dead." The media
guidance application Process 1800 then proceeds to 1826, where the
associated events identified using the various different methods
are aggregated. For instance, in the example above, the media
guidance application may include the event entitled "Evil Dead!"
represented by event identifier "JJ345" and the event entitled "See
Evil Dead with Tom" event represented by event identifier "KK345"
in the aggregated list of events created at 1826.
Process 1800 continues to 1824, where the media guidance
application requests (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9))
identifying data for associated events from the source of the
received data. For example, if the original data received by the
media guidance application came from an online vender, and
described a purchase made from the online vendor, the media
guidance application may submit a request to the online vender
(e.g., via communications circuitry 1010 (FIG. 10)) for events
associated with the user's purchase activity. As an alternate
example, if the received data came from a social media service, the
media guidance application may query the social media service for
events associated with the user activity. The media guidance
application may then receive a list of events associated with the
user activity. Process 1800 then proceeds to 1826, where the
associated events identified using the various different methods
are aggregated.
Process 1800 continues to 1826, where the media guidance
application aggregates (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) a
list of events associated with the user activity based on the
results of process 1800 at 1806, 1810, 1816, 1822, and 1824. This
may produce a more comprehensive list of possible events associated
with the user activity than simply using the results of any of the
sub-processes 1806, 1810, 1816, 1822, or 1824 alone. For example,
if the results of sub-processes 1804 and 1806 determined that the
received data contains an event identifier explicitly associated
with the event entitled "Evil Dead!," and the results of
sub-processes 1814 and 1816 determined that the received data
contains text associated with the event entitled "The Walking Dead
Season Premiere," the media guidance application may produce an
aggregated list of events that includes both the event entitled
"Evil Dead!" and the event entitled "The Walking Dead Season
Premiere." In some embodiments, the aggregated list may include an
indication of how many of the sub-processes 1806, 1810, 1816, 1822,
or 1824 identified a particular event. For example, if all of the
sub-processes 1806, 1810, 1816, 1822, and 1824 identified the event
entitled "Evil Dead!," the aggregated list may include information
indicating that the event entitled "Evil Dead!," was identified
five times (e.g., by storing the list as a table with an entry for
how many times each event was chosen, or by entering the event
entitled "Evil Dead!" into the list multiple times). In some
embodiments, the aggregated list may include an indication of which
method was used to identify the event (e.g., which of the
sub-processes 1806, 1810, 1816, 1822, and 1824 identified the
event).
Process 1800 continues to 1828, where the media guidance
application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 904 (FIG. 9)) an
event associated with the user activity from the aggregated list.
In general, the media guidance application may use any suitable
process for selecting one or more of the events from the aggregated
list produced by sub-process 1826. For example, the media guidance
application may select one of the events at random from the
aggregated list, or the media guidance application may select the
first event alphabetically from the aggregated list. In some
embodiments, if the aggregated list produced by sub-process 1826
contains only a single event, the media guidance application may
select that event as the event associated with the user activity by
default. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may
simply select all of the events contained in the aggregated list as
being associated with the user activity. In general, if process
1800 is being used as a subroutine to determine events associated
with a particular user activity (e.g., as part of process 1100
(FIG. 11), process 1200 (FIG. 12), process 1300 (FIG. 13), or
process 1400 (FIG. 14)), the subroutine may return one or more of
the events contained in the aggregated list, identifying the events
using either the event names, event identifiers, or the associated
entries in an event database (e.g., by returning a pointer to the
appropriate event entries 412-430 in database 400 (FIG. 4)).
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine
if one or more of the events in the aggregated list were identified
using multiple different methods (e.g., identified by multiple of
the sub-processes 1806, 1810, 1816, 1822, or 1824), and select the
event that was identified using the greatest number of different
methods. For example, if the event entitled "Evil Dead!" was
identified based on an explicit event identifier, received audio,
and received text, (e.g., as determined by sub-processes 1806,
1810, and 1816), and all of the other events in the aggregated list
were identified based on only one of these methods, the event
entitled "Evil Dead!" may be selected as the event associated with
the user activity.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select an
event from the aggregated list based on which method was used to
identify the event. For example, the media guidance application may
always select an event that was included on the aggregated list
because it was associated with the received data via an event
identifier (e.g., as determined by sub-processes 1804 and 1806) if
one is available.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 18 may be
used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the
steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 18 may be done
in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of
this disclosure. For example, the media guidance application may
perform the subroutines at 1804, 1808, 1814, 1818, and 1824 in
parallel, simultaneously checking all of the various ways that the
received data may be used to identify associated events. This may
significantly reduce lag or increase the speed with which process
1800 may be performed. Furthermore, it should be noted that any of
the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIG. 9 or FIG. 10
or the databases discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-6 could be used
to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 18.
The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are
presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and
the present disclosure is limited only by the claims that follow.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitations
described in any one embodiment may be applied to any other
embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one
embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable
manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. In addition,
the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real
time. It should also be noted that the systems and/or methods
described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,
other systems and/or methods.
* * * * *
References